PREPARATIONS FOR GAMES

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29268, 28 July 1960, Page 8

PREPARATIONS FOR GAMES

Olympic Village Completed (N.Z. Prtss Association—Copyright) ROME, July 25. The Olympic village is ready. It will be formally opened today, right on schedule and exactly one month before the Olympic Games start on August 25. The modernistic three and fourstorey buildings, set on concrete stilts over green lawns, were completed in June. Now the Italian Army has completed furnishing them, and the Olympic athletes can move in whenever they like. Indian Olympic team members are expected to be the first village residents. They are due to arrive on Friday. By the time the Games open, 7000 athletes and officials will be in the village and the flags of 87 nations will fly overhead. The athletes will find themselves in four and five-room apartments, all painted a light grey, and each with its own kitchen and bath.

Although furnished by the Italian Army, the apartmentswill not be austere. Every athlete will have a comfortable bed—not the kind ordinary soldiers sleep on but the kind Italian officers get Each athlete will also get a bedside table, one chair, a wardrobe, a writing table, a shoe box, a luggage rack, and a waste basket The kitchens will be equipped with refrigerators and small stoves so that competitors can prepare themselves a snack at night But they will not have to cook their own meals. Ten big halls have been set up on the Olympic vilage grounds. When the Games are over, the dining halls will be torn down and the village will be transformed into Italy’s most modern housing project, with each apartment becoming the home of an Italian family. To get the maximum value out of its Olympic investment, Italy has long planned to use the village as housing for Government workers.