‘Failing, chaotic, musical chairs’: Teams slam Asian Games organisers

NAGOYA – Several teams rounded on the organisation of the Asian Games in Japan on Sept 24, with Thailand likening it to a “chaotic” game of “musical chairs” and South Korea saying “they deserve a failing grade”.

The biggest issue at the Aichi-Nagoya Games has been a shortage of rooms for the 17,000 participants, while some athletes have complained of cramped accommodation.

That was compounded by delays at airports and hours-long waits to board a cruise ship acting as a floating hotel.

Erratic transport services have seen competitors’ buses to training and venues turning up late, or, in some cases, not at all.

As a cost-cutting measure, no traditional athletes’ village has been built.

Teams have instead been staying in temporary container-style huts, hotels and the Costa Serena cruise ship moored in Nagoya port.

“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 added.

“On the peak day, we required 201 beds on the cruise ship, but they provided only 170.

“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.

“It’s like musical chairs.”

Frustrated athletes have made their feelings known online, with complaints also made about some of the food.

More than 4,000 people are staying on the ship in the city of Nagoya’s port and 2,000 in the cramped wooden container huts, called “villas” by the organisers.

“We are solving the problem by finding replacement accommodation ourselves,” said Chalitrat.

The shortages meant the Thailand team had to put some staff members far away from the games epicentre in the city of Nagoya.

“Our medical team has to stay about one hour 30 minutes from Nagoya,” said Chalitrat.

“We had to rent additional vehicles from Tokyo so they could travel to look after the athletes.

“It has been chaotic.”

South Korea have consistently criticised the organisers and said on Sept 24 that the problems were “affecting athletes’ performances”, the news agency Yonhap reported.

Aiming renewed fire at officials, Ryu Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee, added: “If I were to give them a grade, it would be an F.”

He accused local organisers of “making excuses”.

‘A lot of trouble’

Games organisers said they were working constantly to improve services for athletes.

“We have already increased shuttle buses as much as possible to satisfy athletes’ needs,” Asian Games organising committee spokesman Hiroshi Koshizuka told AFP.

He admitted issues with transport had occurred but said that “there had been no significant impact on the Games and no event has been delayed”.

“We have set up a system to respond to complaints, and we will address them in a sincere manner going forward.”

But still, the complaints keep coming.

Steven Chen, spokesman for the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, said previous experience had prepared them for the worst. They booked 100 extra rooms at hotels in case there was a shortage of beds.

“We were informed at the last minute before departure that there weren’t enough beds. That was a major blow to every country,” he said.

Chen said that the “biggest headache” was with transport, with schedules frequently changing at the last minute.

“When our team had an evening flight, they suddenly informed us that the afternoon bus to the airport was changed to pick us up in the morning, which caused us a lot of trouble,” he said. AFP