In between the high-octane gymnastic routines, pool-ripping relays and lightning-speed track races at the 2024 Paris Olympics, it's just as important for the athletes to eat, sleep and enjoy downtime, which they'll do at the Olympic Village.
The village, a pool of dormitories built for thousands of athletes from across the world, is an unrivalled opportunity for team-building and camaraderie. Yet athletes from across the globe - including Team Great Britain - have lamented online at the "subpar" conditions in the newly-built neighbourhood set to accommodate 14,000 athletes over the two-week Games.
With complaints of unseasoned food, cramped conditions and cardboard beds, many of the world's best athletes have checked out of the Village and into hotels in the French capital.
Keep scrolling to see what the likes of Simone Biles, Tom Daley and more Olympians have to say about the Paris Olympic Village…
Athletes complain about Olympic Village food
© GettyFood in the Olympic Village is going viral on TikTok, and not for the right reasons. Athletes have been documenting their honest reviews of the 3,500-seater main dining hall, which caters to around 40,000 meals a day based on four themes – French, Asian, African-Caribbean and world cuisine.
Athletes - who have all their meals catered for in the dining hall - are also treated to a salad bar with more than 30 options, a meat grill, a cheese section, a boulangerie a hot food buffet, a dessert bar and a selection of fresh fruit.
While it sounds like a foodie haven, Olympians have been left feeling less than satisfied with the food offered in Paris.
© Ryan Browne/ShutterstockBritish diver Tom Daley, who snapped up a silver Olympic medal earlier this week admitted: "The village itself is actually quite great."
He added: "The only thing is the food hall gets busy, but hopefully they’ll figure that out because as the games go on it's just going to get busier and busier."
Athletes often need several thousand calories per day to keep their energy levels sustained throughout training and to ensure peak performance during the most important competition of their lives.
With limited protein options, long lines and food running out at lightning speeds, Team GB athletes have decided to skip the food hall entirely.
© Instagram"There are not enough of certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates, and then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes," Andy Anson, chief of the British Olympic Association, told The Times on July 25. He added that private chefs have had to be called in as an emergency measure to ensure the Tea, GB athletes are getting enough food.
© GettyUS gymnast Simone Biles wrote on TikTok that the "beds suck" but noted her team were "getting mattress toppers."
Australian water polo player Matilda Kearns posted to social media that she "already had a massage to undo the damage" from sleeping on the mattress.
© VCGDespite a rumour that the beds were first introduced at the Tokyo Games in 2021 to prevent athletes from sharing beds during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are actually able to support 440 pounds and were introduced as an eco-friendly initiative, to be recycled at the end of the games.
Olympians have been quick to prove the durability of said cardboard beds, taking to TikTok to show themselves jumping, dancing and shaking the pop-up furniture to dispel rumours of them 'collapsing'.
