Athletes in Milan have started turning the Olympic Village into a working home ahead of the Feb. 6-22 Winter Games, with competitors arriving and settling into a new complex built for sleep, meals and training over the next three weeks. The village, which will accommodate 1,500 athletes and team members, is scheduled for an official inauguration Monday, but it has been “buzzing to life for days” as teams moved in and began daily routines.
In the first days of arrival, athletes were already setting up visible markers of national identity. Teams decorated their room windows with flags and symbols, including Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Japan and South Korea, among others. China added a friendly panda, while Team USA displayed two four-story-tall banners featuring the Stars and Stripes, and teams also carried practical gear for their stay.
Organizers also staged the village as a place where athletes can transition between competition and the rest of the Olympic routine. Members of Team Canada were doing security with their suitcases, Team France received a pep talk before heading to its rooms on the sixth floor, and Dutch speedskater Jutta Leerdam filmed a TikTok in front of the Olympic rings inside the village.
Inside the dining center, Italian caterers run meals designed to give athletes a range of options. On Sunday, lunch included chicken, pork and turkey and multiple types of fish, including two kinds of salmon and hake, with Italian specialties such as pasta available dressed in red sauce or meat ragu. Pizza and focaccia were also offered, along with gluten-free options, and salad bars included legumes and nuts.
The rooms were described as practical and equipped with essentials. A single bed fit atop storage cubbies for suitcases and gear, and stand-alone closets included a drying rack, hangers, a laundry bag, a dry mop and extension cord. Each room also included additional outlets—one next to the bed featured two USB ports—while room design accents included a sage green bedside table, bathroom shelf and coat hook.
Bathrooms, meanwhile, featured a distinctly Italian element: a bidet, described as a low porcelain sink that complements toilet paper with a clean rinse. The fixture puzzled some athletes whose room videos drew “double-takes.” Teams also adapted bedding and room setups as they arrived, with one team later seen bringing in mattress toppers from IKEA and the Japanese team adding futons.
Beyond rooms and meals, common spaces in the village were filled by International Olympic Committee partners with activities and services. A Technogym gym provided equipment that included a Pilates machine, Powerade backed a mind center where athletes can meditate, do yoga or talk to trained volunteers, and Coca-Cola stocked a recreation area with foosball, air hockey and a photo booth, plus television sets. Separate activity spots included cosmetic brand Kiko’s free 10-minute makeup sessions for Czech Republic athletes.
The village also included technology-themed amenities for athletes. When athletes arrive, they receive a free folding Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 special edition phone reserved for competitors, decorated with the Olympic laurels. Pin trading also used artificial intelligence, with athletes able to trade pins by placing one of their own into a plastic ball, and then using AI powered by Chinese multinational Alibaba to instruct a robotic arm to randomly pick a new pin.
Organizers have also framed the village as an urban legacy for Milan after the Games. After the Olympics and Paralympic Games, the complex is set to be turned into subsidized student dormitories, with communal kitchens—aimed at addressing housing needs in a city with six universities. The Milan Cortina Games require additional housing capacity beyond Milan, so officials created a temporary village in Cortina for 1,100 athletes and officials, adapted hotels and alpine lodges in Anterselva and Bormio for 400 participants each, and placed nearly 1,000 in Livigno. In Predazzo, more than 900 participants will be housed in a renovated school for Italy’s financial police, with the site returned to the police after competitions and equipped with two new pavilions.