The organizers designed the Olympic Village as an eco-friendly residence that prioritized integration with the environment, and in a sense, they achieved that: the Olympic athletes are so miserable in the Olympic Village that they have accepted to sleep outdoors in the environment.
Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon, who won gold in the 100m backstroke, did not even qualify for the 200m because he was “too tired.”
“It’s hard to sleep at night and during the day,” Ceccon said. Said “I’m really struggling here between the heat and the noise,” he said after the 200 meters.
Saudi Arabian rower Hussein Alireza found Ceccon lying on a sheet next to a grass bench outside his building. What was Ceccon doing? According to the Italian swimmer, he was taking a “nap.”
“The villages have no air conditioning, they’re hot and the food is terrible,” Ceccon explained. “Many players move for these reasons. It’s not an alibi or an excuse, it’s a reality that maybe not everyone knows.”
Ceccon is not the first Olympian to complain about accommodation and food at the Olympics.
Organizers were forced to order more than 4,000 pounds of meat and eggs after protein-deprived athletes complained about the vegan, non-fake meat and dairy diet in the Olympic Village, and the lack of air conditioning and “anti-sex” beds, which felt like sleeping on cardboard, forced many athletes to move to nearby hotels.
The lack of air conditioning in particular was a source of pride for organizers, who rejected arguments about the need for conventional air conditioning in favor of the sufficiency of environmentally friendly design.
“We have designed these buildings so that they will be comfortable to live in in summer, even after 2024. The facades of the buildings are designed to protect them from too much sunlight in summer and they are very well insulated, so there will be no need for air conditioning,” Jan Krysinski, head of Olympic Venues and Infrastructure, said in March.
Well, apparently that’s not the case.
