NAGOYA, Sept 15 — Asian Games organisers said they are committed to addressing complaints from athletes and officials about accommodation as the cruise ship that will house around 4,000 of them during the multi-sport event docked in Nagoya today.
Having decided not to build a dedicated athletes’ village, organisers have looked to creative accommodation options to house the 17,000 competitors and officials arriving for the 20th Asiad.
The Italian cruise ship Costa Serena arrived this morning and other participants in the Games will be put up in Airbnbs, hotels and shipping-container style huts in the dock area of Japan’s biggest port.
“We are very pleased to welcome this ‘ship hotel’ here at Kinjo pier,” Hideaki Ohmura, president of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, said in a welcoming speech.
“This marks the first time in Japan that such a facility is being used for accommodation during a major international sporting event. We are delighted to be able to host a large-scale international sporting event with this innovative form of accommodation.”
The Games officially starts on Saturday with the opening ceremony but the basketball and soccer competitions are already underway.
There have been media reports of complaints from South Korean basketball players about the size of the beds in the shipping container-style huts on land that will be home to some 2,000 of the visitors.
“We are fully aware of the dissatisfaction and concerns voiced by the athlete delegations,” accommodation manager Yuta Matsuo told Reuters.
“However, we are not merely acknowledging these issues, we are already taking concrete steps to improve the environment for the athletes, including their living conditions during their stay.”
Matsuo said the core concept of the accommodation programme is sustainability, and that while everything had been approved by the Japanese Olympic Committee, he understands that other delegations would have specific needs.
A resident centre operating 24 hours a day would be available to address any complaints or problems from athletes or officials, Matsuo said.
“In this way, we are making every effort to ensure athletes do not have to remain anxious or worried for prolonged periods of time,” he said.
Matsuo suggested some of the cabins on the Costa Serena might be quite small but urged athletes to make the most of the extensive shared space on the ship.
“We hope the delegation will consider the ship’s facilities and relaxation options — taking a comprehensive view rather than focusing solely on cabin size,” he said.
The local organising committee maintains that the accommodation issue arose because they were expecting only 15,000 athletes and officials for the Games, only for numbers to increase as new sports were added.
In a joint statement with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) last week, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games organising committee said numbers would be capped at 17,000 with all of those guaranteed a place to stay.
The weather has not helped with several hundred athletes and officials briefly evacuated from their accommodation after torrential rain battered Nagoya last week. More heavy rain and flash floods are forecast tomorrow.
The Games, the third edition to be held in Japan, will run from Saturday until October 4.
