Olympic Gold Medal Winner Found Sleeping In Park

Thomas Ceccon at the Olympics

An Olympic gold medalist was shown sleeping in a park this week. The image was taken by another Olympic athlete who posted it on Instagram Live with the caption, “Rest today, conquer tomorrow.” However, the image of the man sleeping by a park bench might have a more dire meaning.

Here is what we know about the image, what the athlete had said previously, and what his country has said in response to the image.

Olympic Gold Medalist Caught Sleeping In A Park

Olympic gold medalist Thomas Ceccon was found sleeping in a park last week. The image shows him lying on the ground by a park bench with a blanket stretched out under him. A Saudi rower named Husein Alireza took the photo and posted it on his Instagram Live feed. He tagged the location as the Olympic Village grounds.

The Olympic swimming medalists
The Olympic swimming medalists | Instagram

This comes after Ceccon, an Italian swimmer, had publicly complained about the Olympic Village’s living conditions.  After losing in the 200m backstroke finals on Wednesday, he said he was tired. “There is no air conditioning in the village, it’s hot, the food is bad,” Ceccon said. “Many athletes move for this reason: it’s not an alibi or excuse, it’s the reality of what perhaps not everyone knows.

He said he was disappointed in his loss. Ceccons said it is hard to sleep at night and in the afternoon.

The optics of a gold-medal swimmer sleeping in a park instead of in his room at the Olympic Village are disturbing. However, the Italian Swimming Federation, FIN, said it wasn’t how it looked. According to FIN, he was just taking a nap at the time.

Other Olympic Athletes Point Out Poor Living Conditions

Australian athlete Ariarne Titmus also commented that they were given cardboard beds to sleep on in the Olympic Village.

 

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A post shared by Ariarne Titmus (@ariarnetitmus_)

According to the Olympic committee, they wanted a sustainable approach. They used a water-cooling system instead of air conditioning, refillable cups, and cardboard bed frames. “It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind,” Titmus said.

The Olympic committee responded (via UNILAD). “On the beds, a key benefit of Airweave mattresses is that they are customisable to an individual’s morphology and so can meet specific comfort and preparation needs. The quality of Airweave mattresses is recognised and approved by National Olympic and Paralympic Committees and already proved its comfort to athletes during the Tokyo Games.”

Australian Swimming head coach Rohan Taylor also defended the Olympics, saying athletes need to deal with the environment.

What are your thoughts on the Olympic Village living conditions for athletes? Do you think it causes the competition to weaken in the actual Games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Shawn Lealos
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