IOC President joins athletes to get a glimpse of his room in the Olympic Village in PyeongChang

IOC President Thomas Bach toured the Olympic Village in PyeongChang today to see for himself the progress being made. Already 55 per cent complete, all the units have already been sold to private buyers for once the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 are over.

IOC President joins athletes to get a glimpse of his room in the Olympic Village in PyeongChang
© IOC/Greg Martin

President Bach will carry on the tradition of spending several nights in the Village during the Games, which are now less than a year away. The IOC President toured the Village today with some skeleton athletes, who are taking part in a test event at the Alpensia Sliding Centre – one of 17 events that have been successfully held so far.

President Bach said there had been “great progress” since his last visit. But he said it was “better that the athletes are telling how they feel about the Village.”

© IOC/Greg Martin

One of the athletes, Katie Uhlaender from the United States, who was already able to try out one of the beds, praised the apartments, which she said had a great ‘family atmosphere.”

The Olympic Village in PyeongChang is one of two Villages housing athletes during the Olympic Winter Games. The Village in PyeongChang will house the athletes competing in the mountain cluster on snow and at the sliding centre – this covers sports/disciplines ranging from freestyle skiing and biathlon to bobsleigh and luge.

© IOC/Greg Martin

In all there are eight 15-storey-tall apartment blocks in the PyeongChang Olympic Village, which will house 3,500 athletes and officials. Building work will be completed in September. A second Olympic Village in the Gangneung coastal cluster will house 2,400 athletes and officials from the ice sports.