Paris 2024 scraps temporary aquatics venue in cost control measures

The Paris 2024 organising committee has made further revisions to its construction plans, announcing that it will no longer build two temporary venues as part of a suite of cost control measures to ensure the French city delivers the Olympic Games within its initial €3.8bn ($4.5bn/£3.5bn) budget.

Paris had originally planned to build a permanent 15,000-seat aquatics centre next to the Stade de France in the Saint-Denis region of the city. However,  in June 2018 it was announced that the aquatics competition would instead take place at a temporary 15,000-seat arena with water polo and diving staged at a smaller 5,000-capacity permanent facility next to the stadium.

The scaled back plans came in response to concerns expressed by the French government’s financial inspectors that they were facing a potential overspend of up to €500m.

But now these plans have been scaled back even further, with the city revealing that it will no longer build the temporary aquatics arena either. A temporary venue in the Le Bourget region of Paris that was scheduled to host volleyball events has also been scrapped.

The swimming and water polo finals will now be held at the existing Paris La Défense arena, while the volleyball will also take place in an existing venue, which has yet to be announced.

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