Olympic Villages: Complex cities

Olympian sleepaway camp There’s less than one week left of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—here’s an extra Obsession to keep the excitement going. Picture an affluent hamlet populated with lithe young people from every corner of the world. Where delicious food is served at all hours and the condoms are free. The Olympic Village, on the surface, is as close as you can get to a modern-day utopia where every amenity abounds. International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin envisioned an international city fashioned after the mythic Grecian town where the Olympics began. “It is now the right time for architects to fulfill the great dream and to use their own wisdom to create a glorious and brilliant Olympia,” he declared in 1910. Ever the idealist, de Coubertin believed that keeping close quarters in a pop-up sleepaway camp would foster global understanding. But it’s rarely a neat picture. There’s more to the village than heartwarming stories of camaraderie, hook-ups, and esoteric snacks. Olympic Villages have displaced residents and fallen into post-Games disrepair. They tend to go over budget. The Covid-19 pandemic has colored the design of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village. Among the health features this year are a fever clinic, miles of plexiglass panels, and 18,000 cardboard beds. Only athletes are typically allowed, but we’re checking in anyway. You coming? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Olympic Villages August 02, 2021 Olympian sleepaway camp --------------------------------------------------------------- There’s less than one week left of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—here’s an extra Obsession to keep the excitement going. Picture an affluent hamlet populated with lithe young people from every corner of the world. Where delicious food is served at all hours and the condoms are free. The Olympic Village, on the surface, is as close as you can get to a modern-day utopia where every amenity abounds. International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin envisioned an international city fashioned after the mythic Grecian town where the Olympics began. “It is now the right time for architects to fulfill the great dream and to use their own wisdom to create a glorious and brilliant Olympia,” he declared in 1910. Ever the idealist, de Coubertin believed that keeping close quarters in a pop-up sleepaway camp would foster global understanding. But it’s rarely a neat picture. There’s more to the village than heartwarming stories of camaraderie, hook-ups, and esoteric snacks. Olympic Villages have displaced residents and fallen into post-Games disrepair. They tend to go over budget. The Covid-19 pandemic has colored the design of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village. Among the health features this year are a fever clinic, miles of plexiglass panels, and 18,000 cardboard beds. Only athletes are typically allowed, but we’re checking in anyway. You coming? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [11:]( Developers who formed a consortium to build the 21 towers in the athlete’s village at Tokyo’s Harumi waterfront district [~$2 billion:]( Cost to build the complex; labor shortages during the pandemic drove up expenses [11,000:]( Number of Olympic athletes expected to stay there during the Games; [4,400 Paralympians]( will arrive after them [700:]( Food choices available on the Western, Asian, and Japanese menus, including [five special dishes that won a recipe contest]( hosted by the Olympic organizing committee. Raw fish, however, will not be available due to IOC food safety guidelines. [1,500:]( Pieces of equipment at the gym [2.5°:]( Maximum incline throughout the site to accommodate people with mobility issues [7 days:]( Maximum stay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village (pdf). Athletes can arrive five days prior to their competition, and they have up to two days to leave afterward. [160,000:]( “Souvenir condoms” distributed at the Games—a far cry from the 450,000 distributed in Rio [1,543:]( Offers received for the first 600 apartments at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Village; the complex will be rebranded as Harumi Park after the Games and house an estimated 12,000 people Reuters/Akio Kon Explain it like I’m at least 18! International house of hanky panky --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s hot. They’re hot. The Olympic Village is the perfect milieu for a steamy tryst. Ever since a [gentleman’s footprint]( was spotted on the ladies’ side of the village outside of Melbourne in 1956, the athlete’s enclave has gained a reputation for being a sexual cauldron. “There is stress, which causes tension, and anxiety and energy, and a massive outpouring of chemicals in the body—adrenaline and endorphins. It’s a powerful concoction of chemicals,” explained clinical psychologist [Judy Kuriansky to ABC](. The 2016 Olympics were dubbed “Raunchy Rio,” and [dating app usage typically spikes in Olympic Villages during the Games](—including by [fans who use “passporting” features]( to attempt to match up with the athletes they’ve been watching compete from halfway around the world in some cases. This year Japanese officials are determined to clamp down on hook-ups to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The 160,000 condoms distributed at the village are meant to be souvenirs, an official [told AFP.]( “​​The distributed condoms are not meant to be used at the Olympic Village,” organizers said. Instead, he suggested, athletes should take them back to their home countries “to help them support the campaign to raise awareness” about sexual disease. Officials even banned the prized, [ultra-thin 0.01 mm Japanese-made condoms]( that people in the know hoard by the boxes. Some contend that the biggest mood killer is the cardboard beds. At first glance, [the twin-sized beds]( designed by the Japanese mattress company Airweave aren’t exactly what you imagine for a hot and heavy roll in the hay. But during a raging pandemic, is there anything sexier than a platform that’s supportive, sustainable, and sanitized? Quotable “It’s like making the ingredients of a huge stew—a stew of sexual ingredients.” —Judy Kuriansky, Columbia University clinical psychologist, on how the [design of the athletes’ villages]( perpetuates hook-up culture at Olympic Games Giphy Pop quiz Which dish is not being served at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village? Grilled Spam musubiSweetened soybean mashChilled soup with tomatoes and fishcakesDeep fried salmon Correct. Incorrect. This is among the winners of Tokyo Olympic committee’s recipe contest If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Brief history [1924:]( First Olympic Village is built for the Paris Summer Games. Athletes pay 30 francs a night (about $16 today) to sleep in wood huts near the main stadium. [1932:]( Los Angeles erects a housing complex for male athletes. Female Olympians stay at a hotel about 20 minutes away. [1956:]( Women and men stay in the same Olympic Village in Heidelberg, outside of Melbourne, Australia, for the first time, with only a fence separating them from each other. [1972](: Palestinian terrorists storm the Israeli team’s apartment at the Olympic Village, killing two athletes. Security protocols have been tightened since the “Munich massacre.” [1981](: Lake Placid Olympic Village is rebranded as the FCI Ray Brook federal prison. [1984:]( University dorm rooms are used as athletes’ accommodations during the Los Angeles Summer Games. [1992:]( Barcelona invests in an expansive athletes’ village complex featuring a private beach with sand imported from Egypt. [1996:]( IBM sponsors a cybercafé called The Surf Shack at the Olympic Village in Atlanta, encouraging athletes, some of whom may have been getting their first taste of the internet, to interact with fans via email. [2018:]( Olympic Dreams, the first movie shot on location during the PyeongChang Games, offers a glimpse of daily life at the athletes’ housing. [2021](: Nursing mothers are given special accommodations outside the Olympic Village—all other family members are barred from the Games due to Covid-19 restrictions. Fun fact! — Sustainability 🥇 The main plaza at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic athletes’ village is made with [sustainably-sourced wood borrowed]( from 63 municipalities across Japan. The structure, which serves as a hangout spot for athletes, will be disassembled after the Games and the planks will be sent back. Reuters Pictures Archive take me down this 🐰 hole! The unsexy side --------------------------------------------------------------- To make space for an Olympic complex, cities have [forcibly evicted residents]( from their homes. The Center for Housing Rights and Evictions [reports]( (pdf) that over 720,000 South Koreans were displaced during the 1988 Seoul games and 1.5 million Chinese were forced to relocate in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics. In Tokyo, heartwrenching stories about [seniors being kicked out of their homes]( abound. Environmentalists and urbanists also question the logic of erecting new mega-structures for a month-long event. Without a viable sustainability plan, many Olympic Villages and stadiums have become[ghost towns]( and permanent reminders of a city’s shortsightedness. Past Olympics (Los Angeles 1984, Calgary 1988, Atlanta 1996) have elected to house athletes in university dormitories. But some organizers see the world’s largest sports competition as a rare moment for galvanizing support for urban transformation. Rome, Barcelona, Sydney, and Paris are among the cities that bought into the promise of “[Olympic urbanism](” (pdf) and invested in new transportation arteries and infrastructure projects because of the Games. “The Olympics are no longer about sport,“ historian [David Trayte writes](. “The Games provide opportunity for infrastructure improvements, economic gains through tourism, redevelopment schemes, and the city’s self-promotion to the global audience.” CNN Watch this! Life before Tinder --------------------------------------------------------------- The year was 1984, the shorts were short, the mustaches were full, the shirts were optional, and the Olympic Village was in the University of California Los Angeles dormitories. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes Poll Would you use a dating app to slide into an Olympian’s DMs? [Click here to vote]( I just swiped rightNo way, that’s so invasiveI’d consider it 💬 let's talk! 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