Olympic Village beds, accommodations receive mixed reviews from Canadian athletes
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Athlete beds have become a topic of conversation at the Paris Olympics.
A viral clip from Australian women’s water polo player Matilda Kearns pointing out the discomfort of the cardboard beds, saying she “already had a massage to undo the damage” to her back.
Canadian athletes are giving mixed reviews to the beds, and accommodations as a whole, as they continue preparations at the global event.
“I typically prefer a firmer bed personally so the mattresses don’t really bother me,” said artistic gymnast Sam Zakutney. “The [air conditioning] units work great in the Canada House so we’re not sweating our butts off trying to fall asleep.
“Maybe the beds are a little more firm than I would like them to be but that’s nothing that’s really inhibiting my rest or my recovery.”
The cardboard beds, introduced at the Tokyo Games in 2021, returned this year to promote environmental friendliness.
Air conditioning units were not standard in the Olympic Village units. The Canadian Olympic Committee purchased them from the Olympic Organizing Committee for the athletes.
Canadian springboard diver Caeli McKay tested the stability of the cardboard beds by jumping on them and shared the approved results with fans on Instagram.
“It comes with separate individual little mattresses that are, dare I say, slightly firm,” she said in the post. “So, praising my team manager, she brought us an extra pillow because we only got one and another bed cushion kind-of-cover thingy.”
“Last night wasn’t the comfiest night. I’m not a fan of firm beds.”
CBC’s Heather Hiscox takes a look at the Athletes’ Village ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Saturday.
Men’s badminton player Brian Yang was fine with the beds, but had other reservations.
“I did notice that the shower pressure in the rooms is kind of weak,” he said.
“I think the one main thing I’ve been hearing about is the food in the village, in the main dining hall. In my opinion, it wasn’t quite as good as I was expecting. It’s just kind of the same thing every day.
“There’s always a bunch of people in the dining hall, so it’s always long lines and once you get to the front of the line, oftentimes there won’t be a lot of food left, so you have to keep waiting. It’s just long wait times. The food is pretty bland, in my opinion, not a lot of flavour.”
Women’s badminton player Michelle Li, meanwhile, lauded the social setup for the athletes.
“For the most part, I just like the environment and the energy of the village,” she said. “Especially at night, everyone’s kind of roaming and mingling and everyone’s off work kind of thing. So it’s really nice.”
‘The gifts have been crazy’
The gifts were another plus for the athletes.
“The gifts have been crazy, especially just the phone alone,” said artistic gymnast Zachary Clay. “We got the new Samsung [Galaxy Z Flip 6] phone and … [it] has a little Olympic logo on the back.
“It’s just, almost unnecessary kind of things that we’re getting but it definitely makes us feel that much more special.”
Yang added that there’s a souvenir shop and a Samsung shop, where athletes can win electronics for playing pin-collecting games.
“I feel like it’s pretty compact inside the village so you’re gonna be seeing athletes a lot of the time,” Yang said. “There’s also social areas like the play zone and I think it’s called a disconnect bubble, just that area where different athletes from different countries just chill out.
“I think it’s pretty good. And then there’s also the pin trading aspect where different countries try to collect pins from different places and that creates some interactions as well, so it’s nice.”
Andre De Grasse and Maude Charron chosen to lead Team Canada as flag-bearers in the Paris 2024 opening ceremony. The opening ceremony begins on CBC Gem at 1PM ET on July 26th and will be offered in American Sign Language (ASL) provided by Signapse, a generative AI sign language software company.
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