Paris bans aircon for the athletes village at 2024 Olympic Games

Organisers are talking about removing airconditioning from athletes’ rooms in an attempt to make the 2024 Paris Olympics the greenest Games ever.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, financial pressures meant some athletes did not have a TV in their rooms.

In Tokyo last year, Olympic athletes slept on recyclable cardboard beds.

Now Paris Olympic organisers are considering removing airconditioning from athletes’ rooms in an attempt to become the greenest Games.

In a move that has raised the ire of several countries, ­including Australia, Paris organisers have discussed using a “floor cooling system” within the athletes village instead of airconditioning.

“Cooling mist and other measures” are being considered for use in the dining hall.

The Olympics are set for July 26 to August 11, 2024, and according to the Paris 2024 estimates, average daytime temperatures will be in the range of 23C. However, the past two years have seen heatwaves hit France and temperatures reach as high as 42C.

An artist’s impression of the athletes’ accommodation planned for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

Concern from several countries over the decision to scale back or eradicate airconditioning completely from the athletes village was raised at the IOC’s Co-ordination Commission meeting in Paris this week.

Paris organisers spoke confidently of the “floor cooling system” amid concern that the lack of cooling may not allow optimum athlete performance. They have made no secret of plans to make the world’s biggest sporting event “sustainable” and “unlike any other Games in history”.

Competitors in the Women’s Heptathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last year. Picture: Getty Images

“In the face of the greatest challenge humanity has ever known, Paris 2024, the body organising the world’s largest event, is stepping up to its ­responsibilities,’’ its website claims. “We encourage energy conservation, innovation and creativity to develop new ways of working and (to) bring about a new era in the organisation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“By more than halving the emissions arising in relation to the Games, and by offsetting even more CO2 emissions than we will generate, we will ­become the first major sporting event to positively impact the climate.

“More widely, these climate issues are affecting sports and, most importantly, they are affecting the planet.

“This is why Paris 2024 has formally pledged to be the first fully carbon neutral Games.”

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