With less than a hundred days now until the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Saint-Quentin sites are actively preparing. From the Élancourt hill to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines national Vélodrome and the BMX Stadium, all have launched developments of varying degrees of scale to host this exceptional event. Only the Golf National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which had already benefited from a makeover for the 2018 Ryder Cup, has not undergone further transformations in preparation for the Olympic events.
At the end of April, a track at the National Vélodrome, completely refurbished, was unveiled during a press conference organized for the occasion. More precisely, the wood of the track, coming from Siberia, was sanded. An essentially aesthetic restoration as recalled by Michel Callot, the president of the French Cycling Federation (FFC), during his intervention.
“We were the catalyst for this sanding down, simply because we live here with our athletes. It’s a great pride to play on this track, to have been able to experience the world championships there. It seemed inconceivable that we would present to the world the image of a slightly mistreated track, he explained. It is always very complicated to move forward on a certain number of files of this nature. I would really like to pay tribute to Jean-Michel Fourgous (LR president of SQY, Editor’s note), to all the elected officials and to all the SQY teams because without their determination to see this file through, I believe that we would not have still not sanded the track and that we would prepare ourselves for something delicate. So thank you very much because it is the image of our sport that will win, the image of SQY and this fabulous equipment. It’s a win-win. This trail is magnificent. It’s a question of aesthetics for an event of global dimension. »
And indeed, the agglomeration of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines had to contribute financially for this project to be successful, as the president of the agglomeration points out. “My general manager told me that on the wedding day, the bride’s dress must be ironed. We applied for the Olympics and Paralympics, and we got four venues. We are very happy and we were asked to add a ticket, that’s the rule of the game with a more beautiful and certainly more expensive track,” remarked Jean-Michel Fourgous.
A magnificent track at the Vélodrome
This repair of the future Olympic track will have cost around 150,000 euros, financed largely by the Agglomeration. “Several billion views will be made on our sites and we are happy to participate,” recalls President Fourgous. And to emphasize that “sport is extraordinary in terms of health. We take the opportunity to encourage the desire to play sports with magnificent sites. It’s a state of mind in this city. On a social level, sport is the best factor of integration, like business. The JOPs are a hope for peace. For disability, it’s extraordinary and everyone can be affected one day. You are less afraid when you see that everything is possible. It’s very healthy. On the values of success, management, giving the best of oneself, etc., we find all the values of the company such as respect for schedules, coaches, referees, each other, etc. “.
Installed in the territory of Montigny-le-Bretonneux, the National Vélodrome “is an element of pride which creates the identity of SQY, with the various events which take place there, carried and supported by the inhabitants and which brings all the public of SQY, launched Lorrain Merckaert (DVD), the mayor of Montigny-le-Bretonneux. That’s also the JOP, not just athletes who perform but an entire country behind them, an entire country supports them.[…] Through these challenges, we carry values to which we are attached.”
And precisely, the athletes are not left out regarding this new track. “It’s superb, it’s inspiring, the track shines. This is very inspiring. I’m not sure if this has any impact on performance. It will already be prettier and that is essential for the image of our sport. She was even whiter than that at the inauguration [en 2014]. I feel like I have a super nice new toy. Even beyond the competitors, it’s good for the subscribers who regularly ride on it,” expressed, at the end of the press conference, Quentin Lafargue, track rider for the French team, a world champion title and four European championship titles under his belt, and who is preparing for endurance events at the Olympics this summer.
But the biggest investment took place “for the Élancourt hill with some 15 million euros. It took 30 years to agree on its future with the arrival of this extraordinary event that is the JOP,” recalls Jean-Michel Fourgous. To be able to host the mountain bike events, the Élancourt hill will benefit from development in 2023 and 2024 with the creation of a sports and landscaped park. On July 28 and 29, 2024, dozens of athletes will compete on this Olympic track of more than 4 km for two days of mountain bike events.
Heritage is at the heart of the discussions for the future development of the hill. The project plans to maintain the Olympic mountain bike track with international influence, the creation of mountain bike trails adapted to all levels – from beginner to professional, the creation of a pump track (mogul course and closed loop modules for the practice in particular of mountain biking, BMX, scootering or even rollerblading) to the north of the hill; the creation and redevelopment of pedestrian paths at the foot of the hill and access to the summit; the development of spaces for relaxation or encouraging sports practice with fun and sporting equipment; the creation of protected areas to promote biodiversity, a discovery trail, etc.
The BMX track has been “completely revisited”, “it is currently being tested by the different nations”, indicates Yann Lemelle, director of the Vélodrome. “Nearly 500,000 euros” were invested in this BMX track, said Barthélémy Kolb, project manager for Vélopolis, the project owner company which operates and maintains the Vélodrome.
And as part of Paris 2024, it will be one of the first times at the Games that there will be spectators standing at the edge of the track and stands on both sides. “We have to water the track every day so that the bump is as hard as possible […], so that it settles as much as possible, explains Charlie Conord, ex-track rider of the French team, today in charge of sports activities at the Vélodrome, during a visit to the site on April 23. We also have a machine with which we compact. […] If we don’t do it, it brings back flints. At the moment, all the little flints are coming up and there are a lot of punctures. We also use the blower to remove all that. The SQY BMX track is one of the only indoor ones. If there are five in the world, that’s huge,” he concludes.
15 million euros for the Olympic Hill
Finally, the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Golf Course will be the only one in the world to have hosted the Ryder Cup and the Olympic Games. It is already recognized as one of the best championship courses in Europe. It has three courses suitable for all levels of play: the Albatros, the legendary course of the 2018 Ryder Cup, the Aigle, a superb course accessible from index 36 and the Oiselet, a 7-hole course ideal for beginners or players. in a hurry. It has been the host site for the French Open every year since 1991. The greatest players on the planet. Severiano Balesteros, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, and even Thomas Levet, have set foot on its greens. The Olympic golf tournament (men and women) will take place from August 1 to 10, 2024. Every day, along the Albatros course, 30,000 spectators are expected to support the best golfers on the planet.
