Serious things are beginning on the site of the future Marville aquatic center. Located on the border between St-Denis and La Courneuve, it will be used to train water polo teams during the 2024 Olympics. The earthworks phase, which began at the start of the year, is complete. The workers are preparing to lay the waterproofing membrane on which the slab that will support the main basin will be poured. To mark this important step, a symbolic impoundment was organized on Thursday. It is a simple model that was filled with liquid by the site managers and the elected officials involved in the project.
– Sarah Tuchscherer
If they are not slowed down by the supply difficulties that the construction sector is currently experiencing, particularly since the war in Ukraine, the work should be completed in October 2023. The center will open to the public after the Games, in September 2024. “It is a highly anticipated equipment“, specifies Zaïnaba Saïd-Anzum, departmental adviser in charge of sport, “because the current swimming pool is aging and we have a backlog in terms of equipment of this kind. 60% of Seine-St-Denis middle school students cannot swim when they enter 6th grade“.
A precious heritage for the 93
“It will be a magnificent legacy for the department“, believes Mehdi Marzouki. A member of the French water polo team, he plays for Cercle 93, the club of his hometown, Noisy-le-Sec. If he took up swimming, it is because he lived next to the swimming pool in which he now trains daily, but he is well placed to know that the territory is poorly equipped in this area. the Marville aquatic center will help develop the practice of swimming. The sportsman also hopes that he will allow clubs like his to train in the best conditions: “The pool will be much larger than the one we have in Noisy, 33 meters on eight lines against 25 meters on six lines. It will be brand new, with weight machines on site, facilities at the top level“.