Scheme building 5,000 sports facilities before Paris 2024 opened up to more areas

A scheme bidding to build or refurbish 5,000 sports facilities across France before the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics is being opened up to all departments.

The National Sports Agency (ANS) reports that 2,089 facilities have so far been co-financed and is now relaxing its eligibility criteria.

Areas either earmarked for rural revitalisation or impoverished city neighbourhoods had previously been the focus of the scheme.

More than 1,000 communities are benefitting from the 2,089 facilities funding is already in place for, according to ANS figures.

More than 75 per cent of these communities are classified as rural.

Community gyms, skate parks, 3×3 basketball courts, BMX tracks and multi-purpose venues are among the facilities built so far.

The ANS also puts the total Government subsidy at €85 million (£75 million/$83 million).

Changes to the scheme were approved at an ANS Board of Directors meeting.

The scheme to build new facilities is part of a wider pledge from President Emmanuel Macron to turn France into a “sporting nation” around the Olympics and Paralympics.

Paris has staged the Olympics twice before, in 1900 and 1924, but never the Paralympics.

By Ali Iveson