No matter how long and thorough the preliminary preparation, one olympiad always brings completely unexpected situations that need to be solved immediately. The employees of the team office of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) in Paris – in addition to, of course, constantly taking over and preparing the rooms of the athletes arriving for the competitions – rushed to one of the city’s DIY stores on Monday evening to get an industrial extension cord, as the medical and recreation rooms built in the team accommodation did not have enough suitable quality outlet to operate the otherwise high-value machines.
ASAP problems and their treatment in Hungarian
In such cases, one has to consider whether to entrust the solution to the organizers, counting on the fact that they will be bombarded by up to 100 teams with their complaints and questions to be resolved, or whether to take the problem into their own hands and try to close the matter short.
Based on the experience of the previous Olympics – when the organizers were able to fulfill a request only a week after it was submitted – the Hungarian team basically tries to deal with every sudden problem by itself.
This was also the case on Tuesday, when it became obvious that after last week’s heavy rains, the basement storage facilities would not dry out, so the materials planned to be stored there had to be found in a new location.
On Wednesday, however, we could no longer avoid the presence of local workers: the painting of the entire lower level (team office, medical and recreation department, community space – approximately 500 square meters) took place then. Thus, on the minus second, but from the point of view of the competitions, we had to sprint on the first day in order to get the decorations on the walls after the painters: according to the first opinions, the end result was very cultured.
The house of the Hungarian team in the Olympic village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on July 23, 2024.
Photo: MTI / Tibor Illyés
The team office and the six French volunteers assigned to the Hungarian team have been shaping and Hungarianizing the building where the Hungarian team was housed by the organizers since last week.
The entire team can live in one building: in 35 apartments with 4-8 beds, in a total of 110 rooms, the competitors, the coaches, and the necessary medical and technical personnel are accommodated.
The rooms are fully functional: in addition to the washroom, there is not much space in addition to the bed and the open clothes storage. For now, air conditioning is not needed – according to the organizers, the building is equipped with surface cooling/heating. If appropriate, protection against the heat can be solved with a portable air conditioner – for this, however, a tarpaulin will have to be placed on the open window, through which the air conditioner pipe can be led outside. It is not certain that many people will live with it…
Simplified spaces
In addition to the basic equipment, the staff of the team office tried to make the rooms, apartments, and the surroundings of the building a little more homely and “homely” – and, of course, the interior as well. Flags, molinos and foils bring back the home atmosphere, providing help for the direct preparation for the competitions or for the debriefing after the competition.
Although the athletes’ restaurant is available in the Olympic village for the competitors, coaches and helpers connected to the athletes, in the accommodation of the Hungarian team, in addition to the community room that allows for joint relaxation, we also offer healthy and Hungarian food in a separate room.
As an unexpected offer, the popularity of this room will be increased by the 10,000 pieces of turórudi, which will fill 8 refrigerators with hungary and await the Olympians with a sweet tooth.
Room order
It was mainly the participants who could decide who would share their accommodation with whom – the accommodation was planned based on the floor plan of the accommodation. By definition, the representatives of the team sports were primarily allowed to take a seat, after that the representatives of the team office tried to place those belonging to the same sport in a common room.
But, of course, among the representatives of smaller sports there are those who have to share their residence in Paris with competitors from other sports. The team office definitely wanted to avoid athlete and coach being in the same room – there won’t really be an example of this in the period between July 15 and August 11.
One of the rooms in the Hungarian team’s house in the Olympic village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on July 23, 2024.
Photo: MTI / Tibor Illyés
Logistics are easier in Europe
The departure, arrival and departure of the competitors, coaches and the professional staff will be scheduled. The largest group of 70 people arrived on Wednesday, and their placement went smoothly.
It is a great relief that, since it is the European Olympics, the MOB was able to pre-book the necessary seats on Wizz Air’s daily flight. Thus, the Hungarian athletes can leave Budapest every morning, and those athletes and leaders who have finished the competitions travel home in the early afternoon so that they can spend the evening with their families.
Although the contestants can travel on a scheduled flight, thanks to Wizz Air, tuning in to the Olympics can start at the airport, since according to the plans, the airline’s plane with an Olympic-themed design will fly the Budapest-Paris route every day.
As a classic charter flight, only the so-called gold machine on August 12 will operate – we hope it will return home loaded with many medals.
The author, Dorottya Pignitzky, MOB’s chief sports professional employee, member of the Paris team office
Source: www.economx.hu
