Thailand has become the latest delegation to criticise organisational problems at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with an Olympic official comparing the struggle to find accommodation for athletes to a “musical chairs” contest.
More than 17,000 athletes and officials are attending Asia’s largest multi-sport event, but its first full week has been marked by complaints involving accommodation, transport and food. Some competitors have also reported lengthy airport delays and hours-long waits to board the cruise ship being used as a floating hotel.
Organisers opted against constructing a traditional athletes’ village as part of cost-saving measures. Participants are instead being accommodated across hotels, temporary wooden container-style units described as “villas”, and the Costa Serena cruise ship docked at Nagoya port.
Thailand said the available accommodation had failed to match the size of its delegation.
“It remains a problem from the beginning until now,” Chalitrat Chandrubeksa, deputy secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, told AFP.
“The number of (rooms available on) cruise ships and hotels does not match our actual number of athletes,” he said.
Chalitrat said Thailand required 201 beds aboard the cruise ship on its busiest day but was allocated only 170. He described athletes arriving to discover their names missing from accommodation lists and subsequently having to be moved elsewhere.
“When athletes checked in and found their names missing from the list, they had to be placed somewhere else and when the new athletes arrived, the previous ones had to move out and look for other hotels,” he said. “It’s like musical chairs.”
Thailand has consequently begun arranging alternative accommodation independently. “We are solving the problem by finding replacement accommodations ourselves,” Chalitrat said.
Transport has also generated complaints, with buses taking competitors to training sessions and competition venues reportedly arriving late or, in some instances, failing to appear.
Athletes have voiced their frustration online, including criticism of some of the food provided. More than 4,000 participants are staying aboard the Costa Serena, while around 2,000 are being housed in the temporary container-style accommodation.