Chinese athletes slam ‘worst’ Olympic Village on social media

Holes in the ceiling, beds on the verge of collapse, lack of electricity and water in rooms – these are just some of the problems encountered by Team China in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Village.

Chinese media, athletes and sports fans have come out en masse to complain about the various accommodation issues surrounding the 416-strong athlete contingent in Brazil ahead of the Olympics, which is due to start in a few days’ time.

The Xinhua news agency team on-site have tweeted several damning pictures of the condition of their accommodations, which include a wash basin that crashed to the floor when the sink was used. 

Others include bed-frames that were not properly held together, with screws coming loose. There were also complaints that food in the athletes’ village was not made to cater to Asians.
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The athletes themselves also documented their experiences on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

Table tennis player Fan Zhendong put up a video that depicted two teammates attempting to install a shower curtain. Gymnast Feng Zhe also wrote that his female teammates had to return to the Village to use the washroom after the ones at their training venue were found to be closed off.

All these have led to social media users back home to lambast the state of the Olympics, with comments like “worst Olympics” and “one big joke” being used to describe the state of affairs, according to the BBC.

According to the Daily Mail, members of the Chinese contingent, as well as tourists and journalists, have already been the victims of theft and armed robbery. China’s foreign ministry have advised them not to visit secluded places alone or carry valuables when they are out.

China’s gymnasts have also taken measures to prevent attacks by non-human foes – by setting up dome-like netting over their beds to ensure mosquitoes cannot get to them.