The magic of the Paris 2024 Olympic Village
From tranquil morning serenades to one man's inspired love for muffins, the Olympic Village at Paris 2024 was the stage for wonderful (and wacky) moments at the Games this summer.
A century ago, the Olympic Games Paris 1924 was home to the first-ever Olympic Village.
The site was situated at the Stade Olympique de Colombes ― northwest of Paris ― and consisted of wooden huts, provided three meals a day (including wine with lunch and dinner, should the athlete request it), and offered a post office, a salon and a laundry service.
100 years later, a new Village was built in Seine-Saint-Denis to accommodate the 14,250 athletes competing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. The modern version was a significant upgrade on its predecessor; in addition to the 60,000 meals served each day at the Games, athletes could also make use of a barbershop, nail salon, sports lounge, café, bank, food hall, nursery and dental clinic at the site.
With so many people from around the world congregating in one place, the Paris 2024 Village — as is so often the case at every Olympic Games — became a place where diverse cultural practices were shared, friendships made, engagements proposed (and accepted) and, of course, a thriving pin-trading community established.
Below is a collection of some of the best moments captured at the Paris 2024 Olympic Village.
A beautiful Fijian wake-up call
Most people tend to dread an early morning wake-up call, but no one at the Village seemed to mind getting out of bed at 06:30 to watch a choir of Fijian athletes, coaches and staff singing in beautiful harmony.
Australian water polo player Matilda Kearns, who was housed near the Oceania teams' building, captured the content on Instagram.
"They tend to start around 6:30 a.m.," an Australian team staffer told Reuters. "No one is bothered by it. ... It just sounds beautiful."
Do you know the muffin man?
One of the stars of the Village at Paris 2024 wasn't an athlete, but a muffin.
The chocolate muffins from Coup de Pates were a surprise sensation in the dining hall. Thanks to one athlete's obsession with them, the food item went viral.
@henrikchristians1 We have chocolate muffin before GTA 6 #fyp #olympics #paris2024 #olympictiktok #olympicvillage #muffins #gta #gta6 ♬ GTA San Andreas Theme (Remake) - Ben Morfitt (SquidPhysics)
Norwegian distance swimmer Henrik Christiansen gave the “choccy muffin” an “Insane” 11/10 star review on TikTok, and followed up with a series of videos of himself caught hoarding the muffins in his bedroom.
Christiansen was promptly nicknamed the "Olympic Muffin Man", but one wonders if the Norwegian still has access to the treat post-Olympics.
PINS
In recent Olympiads, pin trading has become something of an unofficial sport at the Games.
The tradition, which dates back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 when athletes wore cardboard badges for identification, involves fans, volunteers, coaches and competitors trading various pins as they build their collections. The pins themselves come from different sources, including official National Olympic Committee pins, media pins, and even signature athlete pins.
At Paris 2024 pin trading reached new levels, with three-time Olympic medallist Andy Murray going to new lengths to find the rarest ones in the Village.
As Eurosport commentator Laura Robson explained, Murray was searching the Village "high and low" to find Romano Puentener, a mountain bike competitor and Liechtenstein's sole representative at Paris 2024.
"[Andy] tracked him down, he's got it, and it was like he had won the Olympic gold," Robson said. "Honestly, he came in and was showing everyone, 'Look what I've got'.
"It's a bit unfair in a way, because it is a competition, and because he's Andy Murray everyone wants to give him a pin."
While it may have been a (friendly) competition for many, pin trading at Paris 2024 was a wonderful way for athletes to interact with one another and make new friends.
Not a bad spot for a proposal
Like pin trading, marriage proposals at the Village have become synonymous with the Olympic Games — and who can blame the brave proposers?
As far as a memorable setting for one of the biggest moments in your life, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better spot than the Olympic Village, with the iconic rings serving as your backdrop as you pop the question.
Such was the case for Pablo Simonet, a player for Argentina men's national handball team, who proposed to Maria Campoy, a member of the Argentina women's hockey team.
Simonet's proposal was the first of seven at the Paris 2024 Games.
Sport crossovers
With so many world-class athletes rubbing elbows in the same place, the discovery (and practice) of new sports became widespread at the Village in Paris.
Take USA basketball star Anthony Edwards for example.
In the hours before the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024, Edwards was approached by the Team USA table tennis members, who told him that they could beat him 11-0 in a game.
After initially claiming he would win, Edwards relented but still promised he could win at least one point in the match.
Fast forward a few days, and Edwards was spotted in the crowd cheering on fellow US athlete Lily Zhang during the women's singles competition. Suffice it to say, the ping-pong bug had bit the high-flying gold medallist!
There was another heartwarming moment from the Village when two-time women's rugby sevens champion Michaela Blyde finally got the chance to meet her "idol": eight-time Olympic medallist and 16-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The first Olympic nursery
Among the many facilities that athletes could make use of at the Village was an Olympic first: a nursery.
The Olympic Village nursery, spearheaded by the American track star Allyson Felix, supported superparents like Clarisse Agbegnenou, Naomi Osaka and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in balancing their podium dreams with parenthood throughout the Games.
Such was the success of the nursery that it will likely become commonplace for all future Olympiads moving forward.