Coventry approves athletes’ accommodation conditions in Nagoya — Channel NewsAsia
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry positively assessed the living conditions for athletes at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, despite complaints from some participants about cramped rooms and beds that were too small. Channel NewsAsia reports.
Accommodation without a separate village
Japanese organizers abandoned their initial plan to set up a dedicated village for athletes in order to control costs. Instead, 17,000 athletes and officials were accommodated in hotels, modular container-type homes and on a cruise ship.
After inspecting the accommodation in the Garden Pier area, Coventry told journalists that the cabins were quiet and cool, the air conditioning worked well, and the floors and walls made a positive impression on her.
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IOC president’s assessment
According to Coventry, this accommodation is better than some athletes’ villages where she had to live. She added that before the visit, she had read about criticism of the conditions and expected to see a completely different picture.
Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion, noted that modular accommodation for athletes is not a new practice: cabins were also used at her first Olympic Games in Australia in 2000. At the same time, the modules in Nagoya are somewhat smaller than the cabins used at the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympic Games this year.
The IOC president stressed that a positive experience for competition participants must be the priority. According to her, athletes expect minimum standards to be met, and the organization will work with all parties to achieve this.
