Paralympics: Athletes settle in to Olympic village after minor repairs

  • last month

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Transcript
00:00Arriving in Paris for one of the major moments of their sporting careers, these British Paralympic
00:06athletes were met at the train station by volunteers, fans and of course the Olympic
00:11mascot. These competitors are hoping for more of the magical mood which took over the French
00:17capital during the Games.
00:19It was amazing, amazing crowds, a lot of support so I hope that everybody will be supporting
00:24us for the Paralympics. We need everybody to be there cheering us on and yeah it looks
00:28amazing.
00:29I'm a little bit nervous but very excited at the same time. I'm excited to see the village
00:35and our part of the city as well where we will be staying.
00:39Those apartments are in the Olympic village. 2,000 people have already moved in there ahead
00:44of the Paralympics. Foreign delegations and French athletes, many have applauded the facilities
00:50which have been designed to accommodate a range of disabilities.
00:55It's true that in terms of accessibility we had a few doubts but in the end we can
00:58get around just fine. The apartments are great, they all have rooms adapted for people with
01:03limited mobility, accessible showers, it's perfect.
01:07The apartments had already been used for the Olympic Games and just needed a few minor
01:11repairs before they were ready for use once again.
01:16We had a check and we did notice some damage in some of the apartments, mostly to the beds
01:21made of cardboard so we changed them but we had enough spare to replace them. It wasn't
01:26a problem.
01:28Situated in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, once it's full the village will house some
01:329,000 people. After that it's set to evolve into its own neighbourhood on the outskirts
01:38of Paris.

Recommended