Paris Olympics and Paralympics: France opens athletes’ village for participants

The athletes’ village for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics officially opened and welcomed its first inhabitants on Thursday.

The village to the north of Paris will house nearly 14,500 people, including 9,000 athletes, at its peak.

Eight days before the opening ceremony, the first team members to arrive were from Australia and Brazil.

“We are ready,” the deputy head of the village, Augustin Tran Van Chau, told French media.

Organisers are proud of offering a village that they say does not require air-conditioning to keep residents cool, with temperatures inside set to be at least 6 degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit) lower than outside in summer.

Some delegations have ordered their own air-conditioning units anyway.

The village contains a host of innovations intended to make it a model of low-carbon construction.

After they have been used by Olympians and Paralympians between July 26 and September 8, the apartments will be converted into homes, with at least a third destined for public housing.

Earlier, French security forces began locking down large parts of central Paris on Thursday ahead of complex Olympics opening ceremony next week on the River Seine.

The opening parade along six kilometres (four miles) of the river led to the closure of riverside central districts to most vehicles from 5:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday.

Anyone wanting to enter the highest-security “grey zone” along both banks of the Seine, such as residents or tourists with hotel reservations in the area, will need a security pass in the form of a QR code.

With the opening ceremony just eight days away, the City of Light is transforming ahead of the Games when around 10 million spectators are expected.