For the first editions of the modern Olympic Games, between
1896 and
1920, there were no official living arrangements for athletes. Some athletes stayed in hotels or hostels, others in schools or barracks, and some even slept in the boats they had taken to the host city. The prototype for the Olympic Village comes from
Pierre de Coubertin, then president of the
International Olympic Committee. The "General Technical Rules" applicable to the
1924 Summer Games in
Paris stipulated that "The Organising Committee for the Olympic Games is required to provide the athletes with accommodation, bedding and food, at a fixed rate which shall be set beforehand per person and per day" spent in Paris. As result, the organizers built wooden huts and established an accommodation centre near the
Stade Olympique de Colombes called the "Olympic Village," allowing the various world teams to stay in the same location, under the same conditions, and with common services. Consideration was given to creating an Olympic Village ahead of the
1928 Games in Amsterdam, but the organizers opted for other solutions. as viewed from the Olympic Tower in 2022 The accommodation provided for the
1932 Summer Games in
Los Angeles is considered to be the first official modern Olympic Village, with a capacity of 2,000 people and located to the west of the city. Consisting of a group of buildings with rooms to lodge athletes (men only), as well as providing a place to eat and train, it serves as the model for today's Olympic Villages. It also provided certain community services for the first time, including a hospital, a fire station, and a post office. Following the 1932 Games, a Village would be created for every edition of the Summer Games, apart from the
1948 London Games due to material challenges brought on by the immediate
post-war period. For the
Winter Games between 1924 and 1956, the teams would still mainly stay in hotels, with the exception of the
1952 Games in Oslo, where three accommodation sites were created. Women, on the other hand, stayed in other accommodation sites until 1952. This changed
with the Melbourne Games of 1956, where women had their own part of the main Olympic Village. This area of the Village would not admit male athletes, and it was only from the
1984 Games in Los Angeles onward that athletes were accommodated by team rather than gender. The first permanent Olympic Village was established at the
1952 Summer Olympics in
Helsinki, Finland. After the
Munich Massacre at the
1972 Olympics, the Village has to be secured during the Olympic Games. ==References==