The Olympic Village is today a key element in the organisation and success of the Games. It brings together the world’s athletes in a unique location, and offers them an accommodation solution adapted to their needs during the final phase of their preparation. It is the fruit of an evolution process inseparably linked to that of the Olympic Games. Already in Antiquity, in order to take part in the Olympic Games, the athletes who had come from different cities gathered and lived in the same place. The town of Elis became the venue for this gathering, and at least a month before the Games, the participants arrived here to complete their training and receive instructions for the competitions. They then went to the sanctuary of Olympia around 60 kilometres away, and stayed there during the actual events. As mentioned by the historian Nicholas Yalouris, the gathering of athletes from the Ancient Greek world for the Games encouraged the development of a common awareness and shared ideal. Subsequently, the scope of the ancient Olympic Games expanded with the incorporation of Greece into the Roman Empire and the participation of Roman citizens in the Games.