A controversial nap in the Olympic village

This could be one of the most famous siestas ever. Italian swimmer, Thomas Ceccon, Olympic gold medallist was seen sleeping in a park after Olympic Village. The footage was taken by Saudi Arabian rower Husein Alireza who shared the clip of the Italian taking a nap in a park with the caption: « Rest today, conquer tomorrow ».

Thomas Cecconhad already complained about the hosting conditions in the the Olympic Village in Paris, including AC, noises, portions of food and its quality. He was not the only athlete to have complained about these conditions despite the press release from the Italian federation.

Australian swimmer Ariane Titmus criticised the living conditions after winning the women’s 400m freestyle. « It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform, » Titmus said. « It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind. »

Meanwhile, Romanian table tennis player Bernadette Szocs told the Guardian: « There is no air conditioning, just this fan and it is not enough. Somehow we were lucky that it was not so hot outside so we didn’t need it so much but it is now hot and you can feel it is too hot in the room.

« [The fan] is not powerful enough and when it is pointing at you it is good but after it is turning you don’t feel it. We are sleeping with the door open in the night. The rooms are small and we are two persons. » The british team chose to bring a chef to get perfectly cooked steaks. The british athletes also now take their meals in the British performance pavilion at Cliché.

Team GB chief executive, Andy Anson, has also said it’s inadequate. He told The Times: « At the beginning of every Games, there are usually two or three issues – the big one this time is the food in the village, which is not adequate. There are not enough of certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates, and then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes. »

Paris’ Olympic village cost $1.85 billion to build, it was designed to be more sustainable than any other Olympic village therefore it might be the reason why the meals are poor in animal proteins in order to reduce the carbon footprint of this Olympic Games edition.