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Finnish team brings its own air conditioners to cool down in sweltering Olympic village | Yle News

The Finnish Olympic team brought their own air conditioning units to the Olympic Village after organizers said they would not do so in order to meet emissions targets.

The Olympic Village of Paris from the outside.

The athletes’ accommodation in Paris has been criticised for the lack of air conditioning. Image: Getty Images

Paris has been enjoying warm weather this week, with just a few days to go before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Temperatures were well above 30 degrees on Friday and Saturday, and the warmer conditions are expected to continue into the games.

Despite the sultry Parisian summer, organizers have decided not to install air conditioning in the Olympic Village.

Instead, they use heat pumps to cool the athletes’ rooms, sports daily L’Equipe reported, but several teams, including Finland, have decided to bring their own air conditioning to the competitions.

The Olympic Committee provided the extra equipment.

“That’s all arranged for the Finnish team,” said Leena Paavolainenthe director of the Olympic team. “On these scorching days it has become clear that air conditioning is necessary.”

When the Finnish authorities learned of the organizers’ plans, they did not hesitate and immediately arranged for air conditioning.

“The decision was made very quickly,” Paavolainen said. “Now I can already say that it was the right decision.”

Finland is not the only team that has arranged extra cooling in the accommodation.

Contractors said last year that they were building spaces that would be six degrees cooler than the outside temperature. Air conditioning could have been added to the facilities, but that would have significantly increased the carbon footprint.

The organizers have indicated that they want to anticipate and reduce the carbon emissions associated with the Games. They claim that the facilities built specifically for the Games will have a 47 percent lower carbon impact than conventional construction projects.

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