“Please help us.” Byeon Jun-Hyeong, a South Korean basketball player, put those words under a video of a leaking sink and a soaked floor inside his hut at the Asian Games in Nagoya and Aichi, Japan.
His team is one of many now housed in temporary wooden cabins. There is no athletes’ village at these Games. To keep costs down, organisers are using hotels, the cabins and a cruise ship instead. About 2,000 athletes and officials are expected to sleep in the cabins.
“Worst it has ever been”
Jung Jae-Yong, vice president of the Korea Basketball Association, told AFP the cabins assigned to the men’s team are too small. Athletes taller than two metres cannot stretch their legs out on the beds, he said. “Based on my experience this is the worst it has ever been.”
The problem is bigger than one team. A South Korean Olympic committee official told AFP there is a “serious shortage” of accommodation across the Aichi-Nagoya area. More than 17,000 athletes and officials are expected, well above the original estimate of 15,000.
Workarounds
Delegations are improvising. Indian sports officials are having their athletes live in shipping containers beforehand, so the cabins will feel familiar on arrival. Philippine officials have turned to Airbnb.
The Italian cruise ship Costa Serena is due to arrive on Tuesday and can take between 4,000 and 5,000 people.
The Games officially open on Saturday, though the football and basketball competitions have already started.
