housing, sports facilities, transport… What will be the legacy of the Games for the people of the Paris region?

During its bid in 2016, the French Olympic Committee insisted on the need to ensure that all residents of the Paris region benefit from the Games, particularly by renovating dilapidated stadiums and gymnasiums.

A strong promise. When it submitted its candidacy to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) committed to ensuring that the events would benefit all residents of the Paris region, including after Sunday, August 11, once the Olympic flame had been extinguished.

This promise was echoed by President Emmanuel Macron, who, during a visit to the Olympic village in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), insisted on the“legacy” left by the Games, particularly in the department. Gymnasiums, stadium, new swimming pool, village… After two intense weeks of competition, what benefits will the people of the Paris region benefit from? Franceinfo takes stock.

Nearly 3,000 new homes in Seine-Saint-Denis

The Olympic Village, delivered in February, was able to accommodate up to 14,500 athletes and their staff members during the Games, according to the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP).. In 2025, it will be “transformed into a neighborhood” of Saint-Denis, with 2,800 new homes that can accommodate 6,000 residents. Two school groups and two daycare centers will be built, this source specifies. To this will be added 1,300 apartments, 700 of which have already been delivered, inherited from the media village located in Dugny.

Among these new homes, “40% will be social housing”promised the Ministry of Sports at the end of 2023. Thus, in Saint-Ouen and Saint-Denis, there will be “25% social housing”And “30%” on Saint-Denis Island, explains Marion Le Paul, deputy general manager of Solideo, which delivered the Olympic works, to France Culture.

Gymnasiums, stadiums and swimming pools renovated in Ile-de-France

Residents of Seine-Saint-Denis will be able to enjoy two brand new sports complexes. First, they will be able to swim in the Olympic aquatic center, which hosted the diving, artistic swimming and water polo events during the competition. Although it cost more than expected, this huge complex is particularly welcome in the department with the least pools in France.

It is also in this logic that the organizers chose to build the Arena at Porte de la Chapelle. Inaugurated in February 2024, this hall with a capacity of 9,000 seats hosted the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events and was designed to host other sporting and cultural events. The two adjoining gymnasiums will be intended for all residents of the neighborhood, according to Paris 2024.

Around twenty facilities have also been renovated throughout the Ile-de-France region, according to Cojop. The most emblematic is certainly the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), the only facility that has had the privilege of hosting two Olympic competitions in a century. Its stands have been completely renovated and new buildings have been built to make it a temple of field hockey, reports France Bleu. Another symbol: the renovation of the Grand Palais to host the fencing and taekwondo events. Over a hundred years old, the building needed a refresh to resume its cultural functions after the Games. The event was also an opportunity to refurbish swimming pools and install new pools, as is the case in Sevran, for example.

A possibly cleaner Seine

Despite several cancelled training sessions and the postponement of the men’s triathlon events, on Tuesday 30 July, the athletes finally took a dip in the Seine. Before them, the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, then the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, accompanied by the President of Cojop, Tony Estanguet, also took a dip to announce that swimming in the Parisian river would be open to all. “during the summer of 2025”according to Paris City Hall.

An old promise made by Jacques Chirac when he was mayor of Paris, the possibility of swimming in this river has become a political issue. This commitment required colossal work undertaken by the Paris city hall, local authorities and the State. Total cost of the operation: 1.4 billion euros, including 80 million just for the creation of a rainwater storage basin to prevent rainwater from flowing into the Seine and polluting it.

These works also made it possible to renovate conduits and remove thousands of old residential connections which directly reached the river. “This work should have been undertaken anyway. The Olympic Games were only an acceleration factor. They allowed for optimization and pooling of costs.”argues Antoine Guillou, deputy (PS) notably responsible for sanitation issues at the City of Paris in The Parisian.

However, there is no guarantee that the goal of a swim in 2025 will be met. Of the 11 dives scheduled for triathlon and open water swimming competitions and training, only five were authorized by international sports federations (swimming and triathlon), according to the AFP count. The rest of the time, the river water did not meet bacteriological standards. The cause: water polluted following storms that occurred before the training and events. Some analyses, published by the French start-up Fluidion, which specializes in measuring water quality, also showed that the analyses tended towards average quality.

A new metro line and more kilometers of cycle paths

In his 2016 application file (PDF document)the CNOSF promised that four metro lines would be created and that others would be renovated and/or extended. While metro lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 have still not seen the light of day, they should be put into service between 2025 and the end of 2026. As for line 14, it has indeed been extended, allowing visitors from Orly airport to travel directly to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Line 11 was also extended in June to Rosny-Bois-Perrier, in Seine-Saint-Denis, as was part of the RER E, extended to Nanterre. Initially planned to go as far as Mantes-la-Jolie, this “Commissioning is planned for 2026” according to Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM). Also noteworthy is the creation of seven new stations on tram line 3b, linking Porte d’Asnières and Porte Dauphine.

Work has also been undertaken to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. “We started from far away”acknowledged on franceinfo the Minister of Transport, Patrice Vergriete. “There has been a lot of effort made over the last few years to ensure we are ready for the Games.”he stressed at the end of July, acknowledging that many forms of transport were not yet suitable for everyone. To date, only 29 stations are considered fully or partially accessible to wheelchair users, according to IDFM.

The Games also proved the ability of transport in the Paris region to cope with the influx of tourists welcomed over a fortnight. “We have increased the human presence”which “helps a lot to make it go well”welcomed the LR president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, on France Inter. The elected official added that the perpetuation of part of the human resources committed to guiding passengers and better distributing them in the carriages would be an avenue considered in “The Legacy of the Games”.

Finally, a 400 km “Olympic cycle network” has been set up to allow spectators to reach the competition sites by bike. Some 367 km of these paths must be made permanent, according to the Ile-de-France regional prefecture. Several thousand parking spaces around the Olympic sites will also remain in place after the Games.

And (perhaps) the Olympic cauldron and other relics

What will become of the Olympic cauldron, which has been a great success since its installation in the Tuileries Gardens? President Emmanuel Macron has declared “to reflect on” to the possibility of leaving it in place, as Anne Hidalgo asked him. “It’s obvious, for me, there’s not even a question”added Valérie Pécresse on France Inter, who suggested installing it at La Villette. “We’re going to have to get everyone to agree, we have to keep her.”

The mayor of Paris has finally announced her desire to install the statues of the female heroines of French history, which emerged from the Seine during the opening ceremony, in the Porte de la Chapelle district. An idea that seems to appeal to the PS mayor of the 18th arrondissement, Eric Lejoindre, who told AFP that the project would consist of installing the statues of Simone de Beauvoir, Simone Veil and others. “on both sides of Rue de la Chapelle”from the gate of the same name to a large roundabout transformed into a square.