Paris Olympic athletes won’t have air conditioning in Village

Athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games can look forward to some warm summer nights without air conditioning in the Olympic Village. According to InsideTheGames, to make Paris 2024 the most sustainable and environmentally friendly Games in history, the organizing committee has designed the Olympic Village to rely on natural resources and an innovative underground cooling system, instead of (traditional) air conditioning.

The Olympic Village’s cooling system will draw water from the River Seine to cool power plants. The chilled water will circulate through the buildings’ pipes to reduce room temperatures. It’s no surprise that many athletes are skeptical the system will sufficiently cool their living quarters for crucial rest periods.

Olympic athletes will be without air conditioning in their rooms at #Paris2024. In the spirit of hosting the ‘greenest ever’ Games, buildings in the athletes’ village were designed to not need air conditioners. So how will athletes’ rooms be cooled? https://t.co/Js9skXtoz7 pic.twitter.com/2QjKduQR8Y

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 14, 2024

The average daily temperature in Paris for August is 26 C, with nightly lows around 14 C. Last summer, Paris experienced record-breaking heat in late July and early August, with temperatures exceeding 35 C for seven of 14 days.

Many athletes and national Olympic federations are reportedly taking matters into their own hands and threatening to bring their own portable air conditioners to the Olympic Village. The Australian Olympic Committee, in an effort to prioritize high performance, has decided to install air conditioning in all their athletes’ rooms. “This is strategic for high performance and will help them sleep,” said Anna Meares, head of the country’s delegation told The Guardian.

The Greek Olympic Committee will follow suit, further challenging the Paris 2024 organizers’ goal of reducing the carbon footprint of the Games by half, compared to previous editions. “Despite outside temperatures of 41 C, we had 28 C in most of these rooms,” said Laurent Michaud, director of the Olympic Village to InsideTheGames. “Air conditioning would only be necessary during extreme heat waves, as indoor temperatures rarely exceed 26 C.”

Several other countries, including Team USA, Great Britain and Italy, are considering portable air conditioning units for their athletes–a move that undermines the International Olympic Committee’s sustainability goal.