Life within the Olympic Village – Tinder tales, hookups and nation with wild events
Olympic bronze medallist Alysha Newman has given Daily Star Sport an exclusive look into what life inside the Olympic Village is really like.
This summer, thousands of athletes travelled to Paris to take part in the 2024 Olympic Games, one of which was Canadian pole vault star Newman, who claimed an impressive bronze medal. While some opted to house themselves in private accommodation, the majority of the athletes competing in Paris stayed in the gargantuan Olympic Village, which cost roughly £1.7bn to build.
The Paris Olympic Village spans three parts of the French capital, and was built to host 15,000 people, all sleeping on the anti-sex cardboard beds. Over the years, there have been stories of parties galore at the Olympic Village, which was stocked up with 300,000 condoms this summer for athletes attending the 2024 Games.
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At the beginning of the Paris Games, USA rower Emily Delleman went viral when she took to social media to tell her followers what Tinder was like inside the Olympic Village. And while Delleman had little luck in the way of finding fellow Olympic athletes in Paris on the dating app, Newman told Daily Star Sport she thought the idea of using Tinder to find Olympians was an exciting one.
“I saw a story from a girl who wasn’t an Olympic athlete who said she switched her [Tinder] location to the Olympic village to meet athletes and she said it worked out so well for her,” Newman, who went viral for twerking after winning her Olympic bronze, told Daily Star Sport.
“She met so many basketball players. I don’t know what happened, maybe potentially they hooked up or did what they wanted to do! She was saying it was so funny and cool that they could change their location to meet athletes. I think that’s awesome. Why not benefit from being in Paris and meeting professional athletes?”
What did you make of Alysha Newman’s viral twerking celebration after she won her Olympic medal? Let us know in the comments section below
(Image: Daniela Porcelli/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
(Image: Getty)
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The 2024 Paris Olympics was the third of Newman’s career. Just three years ago, athletes flocked to Tokyo to compete in the delayed 2020 Olympic Games. It was a muted affair due to the spectre of COVID-19 in comparison to Rio 2016, with fans unable to pack the stands like they would usually.
However, the return of spectators this year brought a much-needed shot in the arm to the athletes competing. And it also improved the vibes around the party scene according to Newman. While not much happened in the way of parties inside the Olympic Village from her perspective, the Canadian pole vault star did find herself enjoying Paris’ nightlife.
Newman said: “In the past Olympics, the number one thing you want to find is which country is going to party the most. So for me in Rio, it was the Australian house. And then in Tokyo, they didn’t allow partying, so you really couldn’t have it. But you could definitely feel the vibe there was a lot of hook-ups in the building.
(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
(Image: Getty)
“And then Paris I left a lot earlier than I wanted to but that’s a whole other story on federations not letting us stay until the end. But we did go to a couple of parties and everything was outside of the Olympic Village this time I felt. Maybe athletes were just trying to be a little more respectful that there were others still competing but I felt like a lot of our interactions and parties happened in clubs this year at Paris.”
She added: “Everyone’s Olympic experience is different and everyone comes to the Olympics for different reasons. You have some athletes coming to the Olympics knowing they don’t have medal potential and they’re out there to just have a good time and then there’s some people this year like me that came in very last minute.
“So I fitted in a lot of my partying and interaction with other athletes in one or two nights, so I didn’t get that full 16 days of partying and I honestly think that’s why they’ve changed it a lot because of how rowdy the Olympics would get over the past couple of years.”
