The athletes’ village for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics was on display Friday. As well as athletes, the village, which opens January 29, 2002, 10 days before the opening ceremony for the Salt Lake Games, will also house 1,000 coaches and other Olympic officials.
Village director Richard Tyler said “a year from Monday, you won’t be able to stand here”, pointing to the commons area during a news conference.
For now, the village, located at the eastern edge of the University of Utah, houses 2,400 students who will move into older dormitories during the spring semester of 2002.
Each unit has a living room with sofas and a television, hallways lead down two wings, each with two bedrooms and a shared bathroom and the walls are decorated with framed Olympic-theme drawings by Utah schoolchildren.
The units have separate television rooms and relaxation rooms where larger groups can gather. And one of the two 650-seat dining halls will operate 24 hours a day.
The village will have a bank, beauty salon, post office, 200-seat theatre, coffee shops, social halls, hot tubs and a fitness centre.
Athletes can go on the Internet at a surf shop, which was one of the most popular sites in the villages at the Sydney and Nagano Games.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee contributed $32 million to the $120 million cost of the complex, with other funding coming from state taxpayers and federal funds.
University president J. Bernard Machen said “when the Olympics are over, this complex becomes one of the most desirable living complexes in the United States. We owe it to the Olypmics”.
