After each Olympics and Paralympics, there may be loads of hypothesis about what’s going to occur to the venues which are constructed at extraordinary prices to the general public exchequer. However organising an Olympics and a Paralympics additionally requires large-scale sporting and different logistical gear that the organising committee of the Video games has no use for after the marquee occasion ends. So what occurs to the gear?
Because the organisers of Paris 2024 have revealed, 75 p.c of the 1.2 million gadgets of sports activities gear used for the Paris Video games was leased to start with and can head again to the unique house owners comparable to sporting federations. The remainder of the one-fourth of the sporting paraphernalia that was bought might be donated to the French sports activities motion. For this, Paris 2024 had an inner Second Life Fee within the organising committee.
“This re-use programme displays Paris 2024’s want to develop entry to bodily exercise and sport for as many individuals as doable, notably those that are from areas missing in sports activities amenities, comparable to Seine-Saint-Denis, which ranks 103rd out of France’s 105 departments close to entry to sports activities infrastructure,” the organisers mentioned forward of the beginning of the Paralympics on Wednesday.
The organisers supplied some examples of how the gear might be repurposed. The French Volleyball Federation (FFVB) will inherit gear like balls, nets, posts and sports activities flooring which it can make obtainable to its sports activities centres throughout France. The French Badminton Federation (FFBaD) will obtain gear for each its Olympic and Paralympic disciplines which can head to venues just like the one at Pays de la Loire. The French Taekwondo Federation (FFTDA) will redistribute sports activities gear used throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Video games to a lot of golf equipment within the Paris area, together with Dugny.
A number of the amenities that have been briefly arrange for Paris 2024, may also be shifted in some kind to completely different venues. The sand from the short-term Eiffel Tower stadium that hosted the seaside volleyball occasion might be reused to create the equal of three pitches within the departmental park at Marville and one at Taverny within the Val d’Oise. The Skateboard Avenue competitors space at Parc Urbain La Concorde and the warm-up space might be relocated to Seine-Saint-Denis. The short-term swimming swimming pools put in on the Paris La Défense Enviornment in Nanterre might be re-used in Seine-Saint-Denis, Sevran (Paris Terres d’Envol) and Bagnolet (Est-Ensemble), as a part of a legacy initiative.
Gerflor, which provided 33,000m² of sports activities flooring for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Video games, might be reinstalling virtually forty pitches in municipalities and golf equipment within the Paris area and all through France.
There might be at the least 12 completely different second-hand gala’s that might be hosted by Paris 2024 organisers round France — for the primary time within the historical past of the Video games — to present a second life to hundreds of souvenirs like uniforms, cups, flags, towels utilized by the athletes, components for adorning the venues and even merchandise from the ceremonies.
The Paris 2024 organisers additionally mentioned that 90 p.c of the six million property which have been deployed throughout the Video games might be taken again by service suppliers and companions. For instance, Lyreco, provider of over 60,000 gadgets of furnishings for the Video games, will use the furnishings it leased for Paris 2024 to launch a brand new vary of second-hand furnishings in France.
The Paris 2024 organisers mentioned that one in all their companion organisation RGS will donate over 50,000 items of furnishings to the Emmaus Motion, which supplies furnishings for folks in difficult conditions who’re accessing their first everlasting residence.
In the meantime, hundreds of different gadgets (starting from accessibility gear, to trolleys, hand vans, followers and vacuum cleaners) used for the Video games might be bought by way of a web based platform which is open to communities, companies, sports activities federations or associations the place they will bid on mobility gear (comparable to bicycle helmets or locks); digital gear; dealing with gear (trolleys, hand vans); furnishings and family home equipment (umbrellas, vacuum cleaners, followers); signage; accessibility gear and so forth.