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Chef de Mission Gagan Narang.
Credit: X/@PTI_News
Paris: One of the niggling issues at every Olympics is the Athletes’ Village. Despite the best efforts of the organisers to ensure athletes from across the world enjoy a fairly pleasant stay, it never passes without some criticism. Some find issues with food, some with the beds, some with certain facilities…. the list can be long at times.
Paris has opted for a carbon-cutting Athletes Village, giving up on luxuries like air-conditioners but ensuring the basic comforts are all met. Indian athletes from disciplines like archery, table tennis and hockey were among the first batches to check into the Villages and Chef de Mission Gagan Narang largely gave a thumbs-up to the facilities.
“I think the Athletes Village is fantastic. They have a minimum standard to keep and the Village is at par with any other Games that have been organised. Obviously at the start when a lot of athletes come in, the system is overwhelmed which is usual. But the organising committee is doing their best and we are satisfied with their efforts the last couple of weeks,” the shooter told Indian media on Thursday.
“The athletes are well settled, we arrived about five days ago. Trying to sort out spaces for them, our NOC spaces, our medical team and our medical unit have been set up today. Athletes have been using it frequently and they are satisfied with it. The good part is if they want to have an ice bath, they can just come down the building, go to the medical room and get it done instead of going to the main polyclinic. It’s an advantage this time,” said Narang.
Narang, who won a 10m air rifle bronze at the London Olympics, however admitted there a teething issues but doesn’t want to delve upon it as that could create a negative atmosphere.
“There are a few teething issues that we are trying to mitigate with the organising committee and they’ve promised that these issues will be sorted out. I would not like to discuss because I want to keep the environment positive. Everyone reads what we write about and my work is to try and create a positive atmosphere. I want to ensure the morale of the team is high.”