An Australian swimmer who has won gold and silver thus far is slamming the “ridiculous,” woke, eco-friendly Olympic village schemes as not conducive to high-performance athletics, and it may have cost her a record finish.
Ariarne Titmus won a gold medal for Australia in the Women’s 400m Freestyle and a silver in the 200m freestyle. Still, she says that the Paris organizers and their eco-friendly living conditions have been a disaster for the athletes, according to the Daily Mail.
Titmus was discouraged on Saturday when she did not break her own world record in the 400m.
“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,” Titmus exclaimed after winning the gold.
“It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind,” she added.
Several athletes have brutally blasted Olympics organizers for the “sustainable” living quarters, which included polythene mattresses, cardboard beds, and no air conditioning. The plans for vegan meals forced many athletes to scramble for other food sources.
Australian Swimming head coach Rohan Taylor even noted that the national team has shipped in better food and air-conditioning units to make the athletes more comfortable as they train for their time in the spotlight.
Aussie water polo star Tilly Kearns and teammate Gabi Palm echoed the criticism delivered by Titmus and particularly focused on the cardboard beds, with Palm saying, “My back is about to fall off” after trying to sleep on the bed.
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen also blasted the Paris organizers for the eco-friendly policies.
“There’s multiple factors that make village life far from ideal,” he said that poor sleeping conditions are a major problem for athletes in Paris.
“There will be many athletes across the two weeks of competition who miss out on a medal… because they’re unsettled by this new environment,” he added, according to Sky News.
He went on to insist that, “We haven’t seen this at an Olympic games before. We haven’t had this amount of complaints about a village in Olympics history.”
Magnussen also blasted the inadequate food.
“I joked last night about the amount of vegan options in the village, that they’re running out of meat,” Magnussen said.
“Well, an Australian heavyweight boxer has come out. He wanted lamb chops — (but there’s a) maximum of two chops per person. The guy is 6’6″, 110(kg) at best,” he continued.
Magnussen also said that the poor living conditions are evidenced by the times swimmers have achieved in Paris and noted that the times are well short of world record marks.
“I don’t think it’s a slow pool. It’s sleeping on cardboard beds… At the end of the day, it’s about who can overcome these setbacks, who can put these distractions aside,” he said.
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