A Summer Camp With A Difference

Staying in the Olympic Village is a unique experience, with opportunities to meet – and embarrass yourself in front of – athletes from every sport and nation, as riders tell Catherine Austen

- Catherine Austen

On one hand, it’s the most exclusive members’ club in the world: you can’t buy your way in, you are selected on merit alone and it is colour, race and privilege-blind. On the other, it probably doubles a student hall of residence, its facilities are not luxurious, and those lucky enough to stay there may well have to share a room. Those are the dichotomies of the Olympic Village – the official accommodation for athletes of all sports during the Olympic Games.

With thousands of the world’s best athletes, all primed to achieve the peak performances of their careers, under one roof, the Village must be a heady hive of tangible energy.

“It’s hard to describe because it’s unique,” says Swedish event rider Ludwig Svennerstål, who stayed in the Village during the London and Rio Olympics. “The closest thing I can compare it to is a summer camp for teenagers.”

“It has a buzzing atmosphere – you can feel the tension,” says Andrew Nicholson, who attended seven Olympics between 1984 and 2012.

Equestrian athletes don’t always stay in the Village, often due to the distance of the horse park from the central hub of the Games, and it was only during his first Olympics – Los Angeles – and his most recent, London, that Andrew spent the duration of the competition there. He revelled in both occasions, however.

“In LA it was a real eye-opener to see how ‘proper’ athletes trained,” says Andrew with a laugh. “We were in an apartment with the New Zealand boxers and wrestlers. I think they were as surprised by us as we were by them!”