POV: You’re a Filipino athlete who is representing the Philippines at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
While most of us can only imagine what it must be like to be a competitor in Paris 2024 — traveling to the City of Light, meeting elite athletes from all over the world, getting to experience the Olympic Village — the Philippines’ top athletes don’t need to imagine. For 22 of them, this has been their reality.
Certainly, most (if not all) of them wake up in Paris and feel the need to pinch themselves. After all, to call oneself an Olympian is a dream for most athletes.
Luckily for those of us who are left to our imaginations, many Filipino Olympians have been eager to share their experiences with the rest of us.
First on the itinerary
While most tourists traveling to Paris would have the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe high up on their agenda, for the Filipino athletes, their first stop was checking into the Olympic Village.
Upon checking in, every athlete receives an official ID — another memorabilia to add to the collection — that gives them full access to all the amenities around the village. This includes fully stocked mini grocery stores, lots of restaurants (some which even boast three-star chefs), coffee shops, and bakeries with freshly baked bread.
As Levi Jung-Ruivivar put it in an Instagram caption, “The Olympic Village is quite literally like a college town.”
Speaking of food, the Olympic Village at Paris 2024 is home to one of the coolest dining halls in the world. From the outside, it doesn’t even look like a common mess hall like you would normally find at events catering to thousands of athletes. In fact, it looks more like a high-quality restaurant.
Team Philippines’ corner of the village
Once the Filipino athletes were checked in and got to walk through some of the cool spots around the Olympic Village, it was time to settle into their dedicated quarters — and it would be hard to miss, as they were met with Philippine flags.
The building where the Filipino athletes stayed looked to be built out of wooden materials, adding to the mission of Paris to build a sustainable Olympic Village.
In an effort to maintain the sustainability efforts of the Paris Olympics, even the bedrooms of the athletes were made of recyclable materials.
Among the highlights of every athlete’s room tour are the beds, which were made out of recyclable cardboard. While it may sound flimsy, it’s actually got good structural integrity — even Levi Ruivivar doing a jump-test on it and maybe even a couple of handstands.
Goodies for the athletes
Making it to the Olympics is truly a special experience, and Paris 2024 delivered in making sure that every athlete felt special.
The Filipino athletes were greeted in the Olympic Village with a bunch of goodies! As Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco showed in her haul posted on Instagram, she received a welcome package complete with water tumblers, toiletry kits, welcome cards, and maps, but perhaps most special of all was the Samsung Galaxy Zflip 6, specially made for the Olympic athletes.
Indeed, being an Olympic athlete comes with endless perks and memories to last a lifetime. And for these Filipino athletes who have worked hard to reach this moment, they deserve this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Banner images from Eumir Marcial, Lauren Hoffman, and Samantha Catantan on Instagram.
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