It is now official. In just over two years, the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve d’Ascq will host handball and basketball competitions. The preliminary phase of the basketball tournament will finally take place in the northern enclosure the first week before the final phase of the handball in the second week, starting from the quarter-finals.
The two disciplines will meet between Paris and Lille. The final basketball phase will then take place at the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy; the handball players will play their preliminary phase in a hall in the capital in the first week.
“It is an immense pride for our whole territory to receive the greatest players in the world in these two disciplines that the MEL knows well”, reacted the president of the European Metropolis of Lille Damien Castelain in a press release. The stadium has already hosted the World Handball and EuroBasket with very good attendance.
Athletes unconvinced by the Lille option
Originally, the two weeks of handball competition were planned in Lille and basketball was to be played in a hall at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris. But some players and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) were not satisfied with the room offered. For their part, the handball players had denounced the fact of not playing a single match in Paris and of being away from the Olympic village.
The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games has therefore decided to cut the pear in half. He swung handball in Paris in the first week and basketball in Lille, even if this option was not favored either by FIBA or by French players.
14 sites throughout France
A total of 14 sites have been selected throughout the territory for the competitions, like Châteauroux for shooting. This new site map still needs to be validated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Nord and Pas-de-Calais will also be training grounds for other disciplines. The city of Arras in particular will welcome gymnasts, fencers, athletes and even kayakers in the city’s brand new nautical basin. Another example is the city of Le Touquet which will serve as a rear base for certain delegations for the equestrian events.