Paris. This time, a city like Paris is not able to make much of an impact in organizing the world’s biggest sporting event, the Olympics. Forget about the problems of common people and spectators, this time even the athletes have many complaints about the facilities of accommodation, food and transportation. Along with this, complaints of theft of expensive items from the players’ rooms are also becoming common. Due to which questions are being raised about the most important security arrangements in the sports village. It is not that players of only one country are complaining about the problems. The complaints of most players are the same. The fan in the room of India’s badminton player PV Sindhu got damaged. Due to which she had to struggle with the heat. On the other hand, boxer Amit Panghal is eating dal-roti ordered from an Indian restaurant.
Olympic Village built ‘hell’
An Indian boxer travelling on an unair-conditioned bus on one of the hottest days of the Games said it felt like a “ride through hell”. She is not the only complainer and the heat is just one of the many annoyances expressed by top athletes who have come here for the Games, which cost about $9 billion. Besides transport problems, Olympians in Paris are losing sleep over hunger or worrying about their luggage. A Japanese rugby player lost his wedding ring. An Australian coach has complained of a stolen credit card. Americans have mocked cramped rooms. Indian players feel the vegetarian food is scarce. Britain has flown in its own chef.
No athlete is satisfied
“From sleeping to buses and food… I don’t think any athlete I have spoken to is satisfied,” said India’s top-ranked singles tennis player Sumit Nagal. Boxer Amit Panghal is ordering dal and roti for dinner from a nearby Indian restaurant. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, after securing her place in the knockout round on Wednesday, said the fan worked for her last night, the hottest night of the Olympics so far. But she wasn’t sure if others had slept well.
Incidents of theft in Khel Village
To reduce the carbon footprint, Paris Olympics organisers decided to remove air conditioning inside the athletes’ rooms. An Indian table tennis player said the cardboard beds were so uncomfortable that he had trouble sleeping peacefully on the first two nights. To deal with the traffic problem, India’s sports contingent has kept a station wagon, a mini SUV, two minivans and four other vehicles on standby to ferry the athletes from the Games Village to the sports venues, which are spread across Paris. Indian players have also been asked to use security lockers inside their rooms. In which they can keep their valuables, as incidents of theft have been reported in the Games Village.
Tags: 2024 paris olympics, Paris olympics, Paris olympics 2024
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 2, 2024, 07:27 IST