What Happens to Olympic Villages After the Games?

by Will Brown, July 24, 2025

Every two years, the Olympic Games see host cities host thousands of the world’s best athletes as they strive for greatness before an audience of millions. However, recent years have seen the Summer and Winter games scrutinized for their immense financial and social costs, with some seeing costly purpose-built Olympic villages and stadiums abandoned entirely in the event’s wake. In this guide, we’ve explored how cities have repurposed these athlete accomodations to benefit the communities long after the games have come to an end.

Abandoned Olympic Villages: What Comes Next?

To ensure that former Olympic villages don’t turn to ruin after the games, the IOC has introduced rules that require bidding nations to outline their second-life use. To get this guide started, we’ve discussed what these villages are and the regulations surrounding their construction.

From there, we’ve outlined several case studies regarding how former hosts have utilized the villages, including repurposing them into residential areas, holiday resorts, social housing, and commercial zones. We’ve also looked at some controversies surrounding post-game villages, as well as how future hosts look to avoid these.

• What is an Olympic Village?
• IOC Rules for Old Olympic Villages
• Redevelopment for Residential Use
• Tourist and Holiday Resorts
• Social Housing for the Community
• Commercial and Mixed-Use Zones
• Post-Game Village Controversies
• Plans for Future Hosts

What is an Olympic Village?

An Olympic village is a residential complex that is utilized to accomodate athletes and team officials throughout the entirety of the games. Because of the need to house, train, and feed around 10,000 people, these villages are often purpose-built for the games in locations close to sports venues.

The villages also help to build camaraderie between athletes of participating nations. However, because of their prime real estate and need for strategic planning, constructions can be incredibly costly. Therefore, host cities must have clear plans for how old Olympic Villages are used after the athletes fly out so that residents can enjoy prolonged benefits from the games.

The IOC’s Rules Surrounding Old Olympic Villages

To avoid the poor optics and social disapproval that comes with abandoned Olympic villages, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rules that outline how hosts must plan for the post-games utility of purpose-built venues. These have been in place since the early 2000s and were refined in the 2020 Olympic Agenda initiative.

Modern IOC guidelines require host cities to demonstrate plans for the village’s second-life use well before construction begins. Plans must show how the village will provide long-term benefits for the city and community while still adhering to the standards required for the Olympics. Sustainability is also of importance, with plans needing to take into account energy efficiency and waste management.

Furthermore, the village’s proximity to public transport and commercial areas is essential for both the games and their aftermath. While what happens to old Olympic villages is entirely down to the host cities, legacy planning aims to ensure that controversies of previous games are avoided while offering a chance for economic or social progress in the cities.

Residential Area Redevelopment

The most common use of Olympic villages is their conversion into residential housing. One of the best examples of this is the Barcelona 1992 games, which saw a former industrial area on the waterfront converted into a mixed-use residential district. Designed in a grid structure similar to the Eixample district, the village was expanded to include new beaches, parks, and public spaces.

Another recent success story was London’s East Village repurposing of the complex. Built in Stratford, the village was constructed with post-games housing in mind. The apartments were later refitted to suit residential areas and were sold and leased. This became part of broader efforts to regenerate East London and address the city’s housing shortages.

Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Village conversion saw the creation of a new suburb, Newington, which holds the honor of being Australia’s largest solar-powered suburb. The planners emphasized environmental sustainability to include energy-efficient homes, extensive green spaces, and community facilities that would suit families. Today, Newington houses approximately 5,000 residents.

Tourist and Holiday Resorts

Long after you have enjoyed betting on the Olympics, you can return to where much of the magic happened on a leisurely holiday at several former Olympic villages. This is commonly done for the Winter Olympics, with former accommodations converted into ski resorts and seasonal tourist accommodations.

The first to do this was the Lake Placid Village, which was built for the 1980 Winter Olympics in New York. The scenic location of the site was ideal for conversion into lodges and apartments for skiers, with close proximity to winter sports facilities. Norway’s Lillehammer village of the 1994 Games similarly saw its wooden cabins repurposed into short-term rentals.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi saw the town receive heavy investment to transform it into a holiday resort, while the Whistler Olympic Park for Vancouver’s 2010 Games is now a year-round tourist destination. These are just several examples of how careful planning can boost or even create tourist economies for former hosts.

Social Housing for Communities

There is perhaps no more socially beneficial way to utilize old Olympic villages than to convert them into low-cost social or student housing. One of the earliest examples of this was the conversion of Melbourne’s 1956 village in West Heidelberg into social housing. This addressed housing shortages in the city, and now includes a community health center, primary school, and sports facilities.

This purpose was also touted for some of the residences built for the Paris 2024 Games. Initial plans earmarked several units for affordable social housing and student accommodation, with designs aiming to turn the site into a sustainable mini-city. While there remains some skepticism over this plan, organizers are adamant that it will bring benefits to the permanent community.

Commerical and Mixed-Use Zones

Many Olympic Villages have since evolved into mixed-use developments and commercial spaces that provide additional space for the city’s businesses and workers. Often, the areas include a mix of accommodations, retail spaces, offices, and educational facilities that can serve the local economy. Conversion into restaurants and bars is also commonplace.

The trend of mixed-use conversion has endured for the past 20 years in particular, with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Village transformation a great example of this. The site now includes everything from residential towers and shopping centers to office buildings and recreational sites. This helps residents by allowing them to work and live in the same area.

Other examples of this include the Sydney, Vancouver, London, and Barcelona villages. The construction of mixed-use areas provides cities with a rare opportunity to revitalize areas with modern design principles. It also offers a way to profit from the developments via commercial interests, minimizing the financial costs of games.

Controversial Uses: Prisons to Abandoment

Despite the many positive examples of repurposed developments, there are some controversies around mismanagement and poor planning that have rankled residents. From abandoned Olympic villages to problematic conversions, several of these are quite recent, calling into question the veracity of the IOC’s requirements.

One example is the 2004 Athens Olympic Village, which was intended to offer thousands of apartments to lower-income residents after the games. However, much of the Athens village remains underused, with limited public services, vandalized buildings, and overgrown vegetation reported. The Rio 2016 Games also were met with controversy for their conversion into luxury apartments, with many remaining unsold and falling into disrepair.

The Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics has a rather tragic story in that it was converted into military barracks during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. And while Lake Placid’s village was partly converted into a tourist resort, some of it was converted into the Ray Brook federal prison immediately after the games.

How Future Hosts Are Responding

Future Olympic host cities now have plenty of case studies regarding the costs, benefits, and controversies surrounding former venues and have planned accordingly. The 2028 Los Angeles Games is set to make history by being the first city to only use pre-existing buildings and facilities to accommodate athletes and events.

The LA Olympic Village will be located at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and will house athletes and officials in existing student dormitories on the UCLA campus. This is a similar approach to its 1984 Games, which saw the city utilize dormitories at numerous local universities.

However, the Brisbane 2032 Games will see a new village built at the Brisbane Showgrounds to house a majority of athletes, with satellite villages at hotels used in the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. After the games, the village will be converted into permanent housing. As Brisbane is a rapidly growing city, organizers have highlighted that this construction will help to meet its housing needs.