Lackluster accommodations have reportedly led to a disparity in the treatment of the swimmers competing at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
Swimmers competing in the series told SwimSwam that the athlete hotel for the second leg of the series in Incheon, South Korea, is a “disaster,” which has led World Aquatics to move the 11 swimmers officially invited to the series to a luxury resort.
The remaining 275 athletes have been left at the original hotel, which reportedly is “filthy”, lacking hot water, cleaning services, and has mold. The hotel is also normally priced in the $40-50 per night range, but is charging $200 for the swimmers, the source added.
The hotel the swimmers are staying at is reportedly the Ramada Incheon Songdo.
World Aquatics responded to SwimSwam’s request for comment on Wednesday, issuing the following statement:
World Aquatics is aware and sorry for these unexpected hotel challenges and is working with the Organizing Committee in Korea to find new hotel properties to rectify this situation.
World Aquatics does not cover the accommodation costs of all swimmers, but will negotiate to do so for some to incentivize them to compete.
Prior to the start of the series, World Aquatics announced the “tremendous 12” swimmers who would be racing at all three stops of the World Cup series. The list included individual Paris Olympic gold medalists Leon Marchand, Kaylee McKeown, Kate Douglass, Pan Zhanle, Nicolo Martinenghi and Thomas Ceccon, along with Regan Smith, Siobhan Haughey, Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang, Arno Kamminga and Chad Le Clos.
McKeown withdrew from the series after one day of racing in Shanghai, leaving just 11 invitees competing at the final two stops.
The 2024 World Cup series kicked off last weekend in Shanghai, with the Incheon leg scheduled to run this week, Oct. 24-26 (Thursday to Saturday), before concluding in Singapore, Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
For Le Clos to be in the ‘tremendous 12’ and not Scott is a joke. Years since he has been relevant.
Also a bad look only moving the 11 swimmers and leaving the rest in poor conditions.
The only thing I can think of is that Le Clos won individual gold at the last SCM worlds and Scott didn’t attend
Super nice for the others swimmer leaves a super good message from Fina
Athlete list for the Singapore stop is now out: https://www.worldaquatics.com/competitions/3432/world-aquatics-swimming-world-cup-2024/athletes?gender=&countryId=
Some extra names I noticed:
Claire Weinstein
Katie Grimes
Iona Anderson
Moesha Johnson
I think both the Korea Swimming Federation and the agency ‘All That Sports’ are problematic. I asked the Korea Swimming Federation about it. The average hotel price in Shanghai and Singapore is between $130 and $150 per night, but the prices they demanded from the athletes were $200 in Shanghai and $240 in Singapore. However, in Korea, they are charging $240 for a $50 hotel (single room). I asked why there is such a difference and why there are so many bars and massage parlor around the hotels. Their response was, “The selection and operation of official accommodations for the second round of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2024 are conducted by All That Sports, not by our federation.… Read more »
What about the green warm up pool ?
Take a look at MA’s latest IG post…
Saint Patrick’s Day comes early.
Pretty small?
That looks fine ngl, just small
Well, I expect nothing less than the bridal suite.
Paris 2.0
Ramada is inevitable