Team USA has confirmed it is bringing its own air conditioning units for American athletes to use in their rooms in the Olympic Village at the 2024 Summer Olympics Paris. The news came after competition organizers said there would be no air conditioning in the accommodation.
The Paris Summer Olympics organizing committee is determined to halve the carbon footprint of the massive sporting event compared to previous Olympics. To do that, the Paris 2024 Committee told CBS News it had used “innovative, eco-focused cooling solutions” to keep the rooms where athletes will sleep cool for the games, which are set to begin July 26.
Experts warned in a recent report that the Paris Olympics could be the hottest games in history. Average temperatures have risen by about 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the city last hosted the Olympics.
According to the organizers, their innovative solutions allow them to “minimize CO2 emissions and keep the temperature in the rooms at a comfortable level.”
Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu/Getty
“We don't need air conditioning in these buildings because we oriented the facades so that they don't get too much sun in the summer. The insulation of the facades is really efficient,” Yann Krysinksi, head of infrastructure at Paris 2024, told Reuters news agency, adding that the Olympic Village “uses natural cool water that we extract from the subsoil to cool the air in these apartments.”
But Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), confirmed that the teams would provide air conditioning to their athletes.
“In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes saw as a critical part of their performance, and the predictability and consistency of what they're used to,” she told reporters at a briefing last week.
DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty
Despite the decision, Hirshland said the USOPC respected the work of Paris 2024 organizers to increase the sustainability of the event.
Athletes from the UK, Australia, Denmark and Italy are also reportedly installing their own air conditioning systems in the Olympic Village.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told Reuters that countries considering introducing their own air conditioning should “trust the science”.
