Italian gold-medallist ditches Olympic Village for nap in the park

Article content

Oh, the people. So many people.

Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon seems to prefer park life over the noisy Olympic Village experience in France after an Instagram post by Saudi rower Husein Alireza went viral over the weekend.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18046778134880438/

The short video posted Saturday by Alireza includes the words “Rest today, conquer tomorrow,” and shows Ceccon, a two-time medallist at the Paris Games, taking a nap on the ground beside a bench in what was pinned as the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, a commune north of the French capital.

The post came days after Ceccon blasted organizers for living conditions inside the Olympic Village.

“There is no air conditioning in the village, it’s hot, the food is bad,” Ceccon said, via the the U.K. Sun, after failing to qualify for the men’s 200-metre backstroke final on Wednesday. “Many athletes move for this reason: It’s not an alibi or an excuse, it’s the reality of what perhaps not everybody knows.

“I’m disappointed that I didn’t make the final, but I was too tired. It’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Here, I really struggle between the heat and the noise.”

Ceccon, who won gold in the men’s 100-metre backstroke and bronze with his Italian teammates in the 4X100-metre freestyle relay, is just the latest athlete to air their grievances about conditions inside the village.

A post by U.S. tennis star Coco Gauff went viral earlier in the Games after she documented how her teammates had fled for better accommodations.

“All the tennis girls moved to a hotel except me. So now just five girls, two bathrooms,” the 2023 U.S. Open women’s champion said after posting a video that originally showed 10 women sharing space.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The supposedly “anti-sex” beds have also topped the list of beefs in addition to the lack of air conditioning and lacklustre eats, the New York Post reported.

The recyclable beds are meant to support one person and are reportedly not that comfortable with Aussie water polo player Matilda Kearns complaining she “already had a massage to undo the damage” from the cardboard mattress, the Post reported.

As for the menu, there’s not enough eggs, chicken or certain protein, British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Anson told the Times of London.

“And then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes,” he told the Times.