Olympic gold medallist caught sleeping in park; “it´s hard to sleep” at athletes´ village.

The Olympic swimming gold medallist Thomas Ceccon was caught sleeping in a park after claiming; “it´s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon,” at the athletes´ village.

Olympic gold medallist prefers the park to the athletes´ village

An image of Ceccon sleeping in a park was shared on social media; it is unclear whether the picture was taken before or after Italy was eliminated from the men´s 4z100m medley heats. The Italian swimmer scored gold in the men´s 100m backstroke, becoming one of the top European swimmers, yet he had no proper place to sleep during the Paris Olympics.

“There is no air conditioning in the village, it´s hot, the food is bad,” confessed Ceccon. “Many athletes move for this reason: it´s not an alibi or excuse, it´s the reality of what perhaps not everyone knows.” The athlete wasn´t the only one complaining; Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus said about the Paris 2024 Games; “It´s definitely not made for high performance, it´s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”

Tennis star Daria Saville also revealed; “We don´t really have hotel-like housekeeping here in the Olympic Village, so you have to get your own toilet paper.” Just after one night of sleeping on the state-of-the-art Airwave beds made of cardboard, the swimmer Tilly Kearns said; “my back is about to fall off.”

With the pressure of a global sports competition, it is hard to imagine the state of athletes who have been stripped of quality rest during this demanding time.

Olympic athletes compete sleep-deprived

A retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen wrote on his blog; “The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance.” In the chase of becoming the “greenest ever Olympics,” Paris 2024 may have just gone overboard.

The location of the athletes´ village was chosen with an ambitious project; “This village was thought up as a neighbourhood that is going to have a life afterwards,” said Georgina Grenon the Paris 2024 director of sustainability.
Olympics officials chose the location intending to revitalize Paris´ impoverished northern suburbs, yet there is now a risk that the current residents would be priced out.

“It´s a huge test lab,” confessed Grenon about the 2024 Olympics. Seeming more like survival games than an elite sporting competition, Paris´ decision to use the Games as a test for sustainability appeared entirely inappropriate to many.
Do the conditions of 30+ degree weather, no air conditioning, poor nutrition and restless sleep weaken the Olympians? Or do they push the strength of human boundaries?