The Australian Olympic team found the Athletes’ Village they were supposed to move into on Sunday unsuitable. The village is often a centerpiece of the Olympics, but sometimes, there are still issues with housing that many athletes.
1920 OLYMPICS IN ANTWERP
After Belgium was devastated by World War I, the Olympics were awarded to Antwerp as a way to help renew the small country bordering Germany, France and the Netherlands. The problem? The Olympics started just a year and a half after the war ended. The Belgians didn’t have the time or money to build the facilities needed. The Olympic stadium wasn’t finished when the Games started, and Olympians were stuck sleeping on cots in crowded rooms.
2004 OLYMPICS IN ATHENS
A year before the Athens Olympics, there were huge doubts if the home of the ancient Olympics would be able to pull off the modern version of the Games. Venues were called unsuitable at test events, and volunteers quit over disorganization. The above picture of the Olympic Village was taken eight months before the Olympics. While the Greeks managed to make the Olympics happen, paint was still fresh in the Olympic Village as athletes moved in, and the complex was surrounded by muddy fields.
2014 OLYMPICS IN SOCHI
Sochi was one big, very expensive mess, with media moving into hotels and finding walls in the middle of toilets and unusable water. Though the athletes’ village was finished, the quality wasn’t exactly top-notch. U.S. bobsledder Johnny Quinn had to break down his door after he couldn’t get out of his bathroom, and then found himself stuck in an elevator.
