The Olympic village costs over 400 million, but does not ooze luxury. Norway gives the thumbs up, but underlines: – It is very tight.
– We know that it is cramped and small. We try to adapt and make it enjoyable, says Hanne Staff, head of performance and development at Olympiatoppen, to Dagbladet.
In Cortina, 377 rented mobile homes have been set up to house around 1,400 athletes during the Olympics next year. The price tag for the facility: NOK 446 million.
But one should not expect luxury: because the rooms are cramped. Recently, the first images of the Olympic village in Cortina were released:
According to the news agency AP, the Olympic village is located in a deserted area around ten minutes’ drive from Centum. The houses are described as simple, which is not unusual for an Olympic village.
Such a mobile solution – like the one in Cortina – has not been done in an Olympics before.
– Not as I have seen, so it will be exciting to see how it turns out. I think it will work well, says Norway representative Staff.
According to Fabio Saldini, the Italian government’s Olympic infrastructure manager, the reason for the simplicity is that the village is temporary. The facility must be removed after the Games.
The project has previously been criticized for cutting down trees, but the organizer has emphasized that everything can be reused.
– You have seen in the past that large new cities are built that are only left standing after championships. I think we will see more of this in the future (that they build mobile homes) since the toys are often spread out, says Staff.
Cortina’s village is one of two main villages – the other is in Milan.
Several nations, including the United States, Germany and host country Italy, will use the village. Norway, on the other hand, has chosen to accommodate several of its athletes in hotels. The Olympic summit costs approximately NOK 10 million.
All athletes and support equipment in cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and biathlon must stay at a hotel. Curling, if one qualifies, is among the national teams that will live in the Olympic village. Jump and combined will live in the village of Predazzo.
– There are scattered games, so it is a challenge from the start. Even if it takes place in another country, we wanted to make it as normal as possible. There will always be a period in the middle of the championship where it is very tight, where we have almost had to fill every room. Now there will be better space, explains Staff about the choice to use more resources on housing.
– What will be the most difficult now is the movement between the camps with traffic and everything, she adds.
Cortina will host, among other things, women’s alpine skiing, curling, bobsleigh, sledding and skeleton – and the village will also be important during the Paralympics in March. Then several Norwegian national teams will live in the Olympic village.
Each mobile home is divided into two rooms, with private bathrooms and showers. Paralympians get larger rooms with a universal design.
The news agency AP points out that biting winds, but also spectacular views can meet the athletes in northern Italy.
All rooms have individual heating with electric units, which makes brought air conditioners redundant – unlike during the Olympics in Paris, where Norway, among other things, had its own air conditioning systems.
– Do you have anything to complain about in the Olympic villages?
– I don’t really feel that. It looks good. It’s simple and not that big, but it applies to all residences that have Olympic villages. We have to deal with that and I think it’s fine that it’s not lavish, Staff points out.
– We have also visited Milan. It looks perfectly fine. We don’t have any special needs there either.
THE FINAL: Cross-country runner Lotta Udnes Weng was frustrated when this happened during the Beitos sprint. Reporter: Fredrik Schjesvold. Video: Bård Sørø Olsen.
The village has cost 38 million euros (446 million kroner). The mobile homes are rented, and have cost up to 80,000 euros per unit to buy. After the Games, they will be reused in campsites around Italy, and some have already been set aside for a hockey club in Brunico.
The Winter Games in Italy run from 6 to 22 February 2026.
