Paris Olympics Sports Equipment Moves To New Homes

In western Paris, the swimming pool where national hero Leon Marchand won four gold medals at this summer's Olympics in the French capital is being stripped down and prepared for a move. The pool was part of one the many temporary sports facilities used during the Games, built inside the Paris Defense Arena, a stadium to the west of the city which was deafening during each of Marchand's medal-winning exploits. Around 25 kilometres (miles) of scaffolding are being pulled down by the pool, while the 50-metre water basin itself -- made of hundreds of aluminium panels bolted together -- will soon be dismantled and sent by truck to a new home in a northern suburb.

The Paris Games relied more than any previous Olympics on the use of temporary sports facilities in a deliberate bid to keep costs and carbon emissions low.

It was also a way of avoiding the sort of wasteful spending that has plagued previous Games which have seen shiny new venues fall empty and into disrepair once the Olympics carousel moves on.

"We didn't put in place the gifting strategy recently. We've had it mind since the start of the project," Marie Barsacq, head of impact and legacy at Paris 2024, stressed to reporters.

"We learned a lot from previous editions."

Legacy

The 50-metre pool is destined for Sevran, a disadvantaged, high-immigration part of the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb northeast of Paris which has around a quarter of the number of pool facilities per inhabitant as the national average.

Sevran plans to call it the "Leon Marchand pool", with the Paris 2024 organising committee paying donating the pool, while the local council will pick up the tab for most of the running costs.

"The greatest story and symbol we could create for our project is