Brits, Italians Join Growing Group of Athletes Escaping Paris Olympic Village

The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee continues to be under fire for its management of the athlete accommodations at the 2024 Olympic Games.

After issues including a lack of food and lackluster beds resulted in some delegations leaving the Athletes Village at the beginning of the Games, the exodus has continued with the Italian and British teams both heading elsewhere.

Italian press agency Ansa.it recently published a video showing members of the various teams, including the Italians, leaving the Village for other accommodations.

Due to the low quality of food at the Village, members of the British team, and the U.S. women’s tennis squad, have left for outside accommodations.

“We visited the village the other day and it was absolutely mental,” said British rowing star Ollie Wynne-Griffith, who was already staying elsewhere due to his event being at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, 30 km away.

“We all were there and thought, ‘I wish we were in the village’, and then about an hour later you are like, ‘I’m quite glad we are not in the village.’” said Wynne-Griffith.

South Korean swimmers also left the Village before competition in the pool even got underway on Friday.

The first issue that popped up at the Village was the lack of food (and low quality), resulting in team’s bringing in their own chefs.

Sleeping conditions also became an instant problem for the athletes, with Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns recounted the team’s first night’s sleep on the bed, with one of her teammates saying “My back is about to collapse.”

Kearns later posted a video confirming that the team ordered mattress covers for the beds, which were delivered the same day.

Swimming superstar Sarah Sjostrom also brought her own mattress to the Village. In an interview with a Swedish newspaper, Sjostrom made it clear that she did not want to take any chances with the beds. “I received help to buy a mattress, so I am grateful for that,” Sjostrom said.

This was concurrently compounded by city transportation chaos, due to which the swimmers took up to two hours to get to the Defense Arena pool.