CAO, The water park for the 2024 Olympic Games, Paris

As part of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Olympic Aquatic Center has been built in the heart of the Plaine Saulnier ZAC, opposite the Stade de France Saint-Denis. It is linked to the Stade de France by a footbridge spanning the A1 freeway.

Entirely designed using bio-sourced materials, the CAO was delivered at the end of 2023, opening to the organization managing Paris 2024 in April 2024.

Model of the nautical center for Paris 2024

The architectural project of the Olympic aquatic center

In early October 2020, the architectural project of the Olympic Aquatic Center (OAC) was presented. This 4 hectare site will require the following materials to be manufactured:

• + 1,200 tons of bio-sourced materials,
• 4,680 m2 of photovoltaic panels,
• 8.5 tons of recycled local plastic waste to make the seats for the bleachers.

Renewable energies will provide 84% of the heating needs of this 30-meter high, 106-meter wide and 114-meter long building.

The footbridge between the Stade de France and the Olympic Aquatic Center (CAO) was installed between August 8 and 11, 2022 over the A1 (which required the closure of this section of highway). It is currently under construction until the end of 2023. For the Olympics, it will only be used by people with a competition ticket who wish to access the venues. The general public will be able to use it from May 2, 2025.

The facilities of the Olympic Aquatic Center

During the Olympic Games, the aquatic complex will include

• a 50-meter pool (10 water lines) for the Olympic artistic swimming and water polo events
• a special pool for diving,
• 5,000 seats,
• as well as a warm-up pool located on the outside square.

The outdoor warm-up pool can be completely dismantled at the end of the Games, just like the 2,500-seat Olympic stand added for the occasion, and will be relocated to another area of Seine-Saint-Denis. The water polo and artistic swimming pool, as well as the diving pool, will be maintained on the site and made available to the public as of 2025, with a 2,500-seat grandstand better suited to regional or national level competitions.

For the legacy, new works will take place after the end of the Paralympic Games in October 2024 until mid-May 2025. On May 2, 2025, this international sports facility will welcome the general public. Many activities will be on the program:

• A 25-meter learning pool
• An aquatic pool
• A fitness center
• An Arkose climbing gym with a restaurant supplied by the Ferme de Gally located in Saint-Denis
• Sports fields such as a Five, a 3/3 basketball and a padel-tennis
• A sports recycling center.

This new place of sports practice accessible to all will also receive punctually national and international competitions. In this context, the other 2,500 seats could be added to bring the number of spectators back to that of the 2024 Olympic Games.

Extra info: the various players in charge of designing the CAO also allowed the region to participate in its construction. Indeed, the 2,500 seats that will remain permanently on the site are "made in" 93. LemonTri, a social economy company located in Pantin, organized a collection of bottle caps that were then crushed and transformed by a factory in Aubervilliers, Le Pavé.

Figures:

• 1 Olympic pool of 50 meters
• 3 events during the Olympic Games
• 5,000 seats during the Olympic Games, 2,500 after 2024
• 5,000 m2 of roof covered with photovoltaic panels
• Located 2 km east of the Athletes' Village

The events at the Olympic pool Saint-Denis

Artistic swimming from August 5 to 10, 2024

Diving from July 27 to August 10, 2024

Water polo from July 27 to August 4, 2024 
The preliminary phase competitions will be held at the Aquatic Center from July 27 to Sunday August 4, 2024.
The final phases will be held at another venue - Paris la Défense Arena - from August 5 to 11, 2024.

Paris la Défense Arena
Address: 99 Jardins de l'Arche 92000 Nanterre
Access: bus, metro line 1, tramway T2: Stop La Défense, RER A: Stop La Défense or Nanterre Préfecture, Transilien L and U

What to do while waiting for the Olympic Games at the CAO?

You can visit the Gothic Basilica with its kings and queens of France. You can also spend the afternoon at Station Afrique in Ile-St-Denis (a few stations away), which serves as a Fan Zone and games venue in connection with Dakar 2026.

A long-term project to become a national training center

Paris 2024 wishes to adopt a lasting approach regarding the equipments built up for the Olympic Games to promote sport development on its territory, and especially in Seine-Saint-Denis, that has much to offer for sport. After the Olympics, the water park will welcome  the national training center and the French swimming federation headquarters. It will also be opened for the inhabitants and added to the list of the different pools and water parks opened to the public in the North-East area of Paris.

Other nautical sites in Seine-Saint-Denis will be used as training sites for the Olympic Games.

Baleine in Saint-Denis
The water sports center in Noisy-le-Sec
The swimming pool of Aulnay-sous-Bois
The Maurice Thorez water sports stadium in Montreuil (water polo)
Vallerey swimming pool - Paris 20th