Olympic Village London 2012
The Olympic Village is the accommodation that is specifically built for the athletes, officials and trainers during the Olympic Games. It is usually built within the Olympic park or very close to it. Due to the Munich Massacre in 1972 the village now has high security and only athletes, trainers and officials are allowed to live in the accommodation. Although with the correct checks family members and former athletes are allowed within the village. To build the most recent Olympic Village in London it took 2.8 million people from different contractors around the country and whilst the Olympics are taking place around 200,000 people will be working in different areas of the Olympic Park.
History
Before 1924 the Olympic committee used to rent houses around the host city for the athletes, trainers and officials to live in during the Olympics but this was very expensive. After this Pierre de Coubertin came up with the idea of the Olympic Village and then in the 1924 Summer Olympics the first village was built. Olympic organisers built cabins around the Olympic Park so that the athletes had easy access to and from the different venues. This village created a template to all the other villages that have been built since then. The Olympic Village usually consists of a group of buildings that are filled with numerous rooms to house the athletes.
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London 2012
For the most recent Olympics in London; there were a massive total of 18,000 Olympic and Paralympic Athletes and officials staying in the Olympic Village. It was situated just east of the Olympic Park with nearby Stratford International Station to retreat from different cities within the country. There were approximately 3,300 apartments which came to around 17,320 beds for the athletes to sleep in. Not only does the village house the athletes but it also has many different activities for the athletes to do whilst they are not training including shops, restaurants, leisure facilities and a canteen that can cater for up to 5,500 athletes.
The whole village together was spread over 27 hectares of land which is equivalent to St James Park. As well as this the site consists of more than 10 hectares of new parks which includes cycling facilities and recreation spaces. Two of the most famous Olympians stayed here, Tom Daley and Rebecca Adlington. Athletes came from all around the country to stay in the Olympic Village. This includes Olympians from Australia, Czech Republic, South Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark and Slovenia. After the London 2012 Olympics is over this village will be converted into 2,800 new homes and a new education centre will be opened which will have 1,800 places for students.