(NewsNation) — The world’s greatest athletes are facing some not-so-great conditions in the Olympic Village, at least according to their TikTok videos.
The games’ younger crowd is going viral for their reviews — of the food, rooms and overall experience — just days into the 2024 event. Their main concerns include the infamous cardboard beds, bland food and the accommodations’ cramped, collegelike feel.
Olympic Village housing
Tennis star Coco Gauff, who represents the U.S., posted a seven-second video showing her bathroom situation. The video, whose text reads “10 girls, two bathrooms,” has a soundtrack of a woman screaming, aptly named “female rage,” roaring overhead.
In a video from Ilona Maher, the rugby player showed off her cardboard bed, testing different situations on the perhaps-unstable piece of furniture.
“Am I afraid my bed’s going to break? Yes. But I’m going to do it anyway. Let’s go,” Maher said. The video shows several Team USA athletes reenacting childbirth, attempting gymnast Amy Doyle’s balance beam routine, dancing an Irish jig and wrestling, among other activities.
Renowned American gymnast Simone Biles said “the bed sucks” in a TikTok comment, opting for a mattress topper to get some good sleep.
Chari Hawkins, a U.S. track and field athlete, took to the app with privacy concerns.
“There are no curtains. There are no curtains. There are no curtains,” Hawkins said in her TikTok, explaining that she’s instead decided to hang a large towel on a “really sticky” part of the window.
Swiss rower Celia Dupre chose to stay elsewhere because of long travel times to the event venue (“a logistical nightmare”), lack of air conditioning and the aforementioned beds.
“The cardboard box bed was so uncomfortable, hard as a rock,” Dupre shared on TikTok. “And then the Olympic duvet was really itchy.”
Olympic Village food
Tina Rahimi, a boxer representing Australia, shared a video shedding light into the dining hall situation. Food is arranged by cuisine type — world, Asian, French and halal — and is abundant, with pasta, grilled food, sides and beverage stations scattered around the hall.
Despite the sheer quantity of food, some athletes are finding it less than palatable.
Zahria Allers-Liburd, a track and field athlete representing St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, gave a thumbs down to her food in a TikTok video, claiming she has “lost 5 pounds in a few days” and needs “a Chipotle bowl ASAP.”
Aleah Finnegan, a gymnast representing the Philippines, tells her TikTok audience: “Honestly, the food here, it’s good. It’s not really … seasoned, so…”
But it’s not all bad — Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen has led the charge for the dining hall’s chocolate muffin, making at least four videos about the treat within the games’ first three days.
