Rooms in a hotel near the Olympic village in Saint-Denis for French sportswomen who are breastfeeding their children and cannot sleep in the sacrosanct village: the French Olympic committee unveiled on Monday some exceptional measures for sportswomen during the Olympics.
The request was made publicly by judoka Clarisse Agbégnénou, qualified for the Olympics, and mother of a little girl.
Astrid Guyart, secretary general of the French Olympic committee (CNOSF), recalled on Monday the rule in the Olympic village which is that children cannot sleep there. They can possibly be “invited” there during the day but generally the “guest passes are very restricted” and often dedicated to medical or sports staff, she clarified.
It was therefore decided to be able to offer accommodation at the Pleyel hotel, located a few hundred meters from the Olympic village in Saint-Denis, for mothers who are breastfeeding their children and thus offer “the best conditions of balance” to the competitors. and “take into account parenthood”, including fathers, explained Astrid Guyart during a press conference.
There will also be in this hotel, which is about to open, “a 100 square meter family area” where parents can spend time with their children regardless of their age. This system will begin from the opening of the Olympic village on July 18, 2024.
“It’s unprecedented and it’s something we want to last, so that it’s not a bubble because it’s the Paris Olympics,” insisted Astrid Guyart, also president of the athletes’ commission.
For the moment, this represents a cost of “40,000 euros” for the French Olympic committee which organizes the entire system, but cannot say precisely how many athletes will ultimately be affected.
“These are exceptional measures, because leaving the village also means leaving the heart of the Olympics,” explained Marie-Amélie Le Fur, president of the French Paralympic committee.
For the Paralympic Games, the system is not quite the same. There will be, already planned for a long time, the possibility of seeing the family within the France club. Parents of children under one year old will be able to see them in the village during the day with a pass and the Paralympic Committee will study requests for hotel accommodation, particularly in the case of a mother who wishes to breastfeed her child. child.
“I am reassured and I am preparing for the Olympics in good conditions,” commented Manon Genest, para athlete qualified for the long jump, during this press conference.
