The standard of rooms in the Olympic Village was a subject of discussion even before the event in Paris began. “Athletes who have already appeared in the Olympic Village are eager to share their observations on social media. The focus of attention has been, among others, the ecological cardboard beds that are equipped in all Olympic apartments and cottages” – wrote Kacper Sosnowski, a journalist from Sport.pl.
Świątek's rival showed the reality of the Olympic village. Other tennis players fled to the hotel
Coco Gauff presented the reality of the place where athletes are staying on her TikTok profile. The American published a video on Saturday, showing the cramped rooms, which were further limited by the equipment of the athletes preparing to go out. “10 girls, 2 bathrooms” – the tennis player described the video.
Coco Gauff wrote in a separate comment: “all the tennis players, except me, have moved to a hotel. Now there are only 5 girls and two bathrooms.” The world number two also revealed that she borrowed a mattress topper from the archery team to make it easier for her to sleep on the cardboard beds.
“The Olympic Village was a hot topic ahead of the Paris Olympics. The seemingly cramped conditions were one thing, but the no-air conditioning rule caused another problem,” Fox News noted. “Paris 2024 organizers didn't put air conditioners in the rooms. They built a cooling system using naturally cold water from a depth of 70 meters, which will circulate through the floors of the buildings to cool the temperatures in the apartments,” they added. This was supposed to cut the carbon footprint by up to half. This is to ensure that the “greenest Games in history” will be held.
Difficult conditions did not prevent Coco Gauff from advancing to the second round of the Olympic tournament. The 20-year-old defeated Alja Tomljanović 6-3, 6-0.