With the Paris 2024 Games, leisure centres must adapt

Leisure centres in the capital must adapt this year to traffic restrictions with fewer trips outside the capital.

The Olympic Games are disrupting the holidays of young Parisians. To compensate for the lack of outings due to traffic restrictions, young people can still enjoy local play areas set up exceptionally this year, particularly in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, where a schoolyard has been transformed into an Olympic village.

There is an agility course, further away from field hockey, and even boxing with a virtual reality headset. Several leisure centers compete, the goal is to bring the cup home. “We really stayed focused on the Olympics during the year with basic sports. I think it’s important for children who don’t go on vacation, who have eaten it all year, to be able to do the Olympic Games, but rather fun ones.”explains Damien Chevreau, who imagined these mini-Olympics.

The only downside is the lack of greenery within the nature and discovery area. “Nature is not really there, but we try to make people forget that it is not really there.”concedes Damien Chevreau. This is the downside of the Olympic Games for these centres, which have seen bus trips drop by a third. “Coach transport has been complicated since the beginning of Julyexplains Jean-François Homassel, head of schools in the 18th arrondissement. The hypercentre of Paris is completely barricaded for the moment, but that’s normal: we have to prepare the infrastructure for the Games. And then, all the big roads that go to Paris are still a bit too busy… The constraint for us, that was really it this year and we said to ourselves that we had to offer another possibility”he slips.

There are always outings to the swimming pool or the cinema, but you have to stay in the neighborhood: “The activities we have thought of are much more local to avoid using transport which will be time-consuming in the coming period”continues Jean-François Homassel.

Reason for satisfaction: Most children do not see any difference from previous years. On the contrary! Mariam is like a fish in water. The one who wants to become a great athlete by becoming “either a basketball player or a soccer player” and perhaps one day participate in the Olympic Games, he confides: “It’s kind of my dream. I train hard and like that, I would be a big celebrity!” These Olympics allow young people to try out new sports. The organizers would like this Olympic spirit to continue in the coming years beyond the Olympic Games.