a hotel for French sportswomen who are breastfeeding and a “family space” created – Libération

The organizers of the Paris Olympic Games announced this Monday, February 26, that they would be putting in place new exceptional measures this summer, near the Olympic village, to “take into account parenthood”.

The request was made publicly by judo star Clarisse Agbègnénou, qualified for the Olympics, and mother of a little girl. The French Olympic Committee unveiled this Monday, February 26, some exceptional measures for sportswomen during the Paris Olympic Games. Among them: 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.

“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, Secretary General of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) and President of the Athletes’ Commission.

Astrid Guyart recalled this Monday the rule in the Olympic village which is that children cannot sleep there. They can possibly be “guests” there during the day but generally the “guest passes are very restricted” and often dedicated to medical or sports staff , she said.

Consequently, the organizers decided 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 child 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.

Uncertainty about the number of athletes affected

There will also be in this hotel, which is about to open, “a 100 m2 family space” where parents can spend time with their children whatever their age. This system will begin from the opening of the Olympic village on July 18, 2024. For the moment, this represents a cost of “40,000 euros” for the French Olympic committee which organizes the whole system. The body 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,” noted Marie-Amélie Le Fur, president of the committee. © French Paralympics.

For the Paralympic Games, the system is not quite the same. There will be, already planned for a long time, the possibility of being able to see 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 accommodation at the hotel. such, particularly in the case of a mother who wishes to breastfeed her child.