Olympics storm erupts over 'ridiculous' move that's dudding athletes out of world records

Aussie Olympian James Magnussen has shone a light on the diabolical situation in the athletes' village at the Paris Olympics, which he believes is costing athletes the chance to break world records. Athletes have been fuming over the conditions in the village in Paris, with food options causing headaches and the cardboard beds widely panned.

Paris Olympics organisers have tried to make the Games as 'green' as possible, with 60 per cent of the food in the athletes' village being vegan. The cardboard beds are also environmentally friendly and will be re-used and recycled after the Games.

But according to Magnussen, the conditions are costing athletes the chance to break world records because they're not being given the best chance to perform. There were already concerns that the cardboard beds would make it difficult for athletes to sleep properly, and the mattresses on offer are said to be rock hard.

The food options in the village have also been savaged, with the Great Britain team bringing in their own chef. The entire American tennis team has since fled the village and are staying in hotel accommodation instead.

Aussie champion Ariarne Titmus hinted she wasn't happy about staying in the village after winning gold in the 400m freestyle, and was surprised by her time. Titmus and Mollie O'Callaghan won gold in the 400 and 200m freestyle respectively - but neither came particularly close to the world records in those events despite breaking them previously.

“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,” Titmus said on Sunday. “It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”

'Ridiculous' conditions in Olympic village hampering athletes

Speaking on the 'Matty and Missile' podcast with Matty Johns in Paris, Magnussen said athletes were “fed up with the facilities” in the village. “We saw again tonight, great results in the pool, but as far as times goes, they’re well off those world marks,” he said.

“You’re trying to get the perfect result in the most imperfect environment. And it really is at the end of the day who can overcome these setbacks, who can put these distractions aside.

“There will be many athletes across the two weeks of competition who miss out on a medal or miss out on a record or miss out on a final because they’re unsettled by this new environment they haven’t seen before. We haven’t had this amount of complaints about a Village in Olympic history.”

After three nights of action in the pool, not a single world record has been broken, although O'Callaghan and the women's 4x100m relay team set new Olympic records. “It's the Olympics and people have trained so hard for four years, they turn up here and they’re sleeping on cardboard beds. It’s just ridiculous," said Matty Johns.

James Magnussen calls for change at future Olympics

Magnussen revealed how an Australian weightlifter had been denied when he asked for more lamb chops. “I joked last night about the amount of vegan options in the village, that they’re running out of meat,” the retired swimmer said. “Well, an Australian heavyweight boxer has come out. He wanted lamb chops, maximum two chops per person. The guy is 6-foot-6. Johns added: “He’s come here as a heavyweight, he’ll go home as a middleweight.”

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Magnussen had earlier written in a column for News Corp: “The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance. They had a charter that said 60 per cent of food in the village had to be vegan-friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn’t anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan-friendly ones.

“It seemed Paris wanted to be eco first, performance second at the Games. I don’t know if that’s a political stance, or if it’s a cost stance, but I think in the future we need to look to other options because the Olympics is the pinnacle sporting event in the world.”

Questions emerge about speed of pool at Paris Olympics

Others have also questioned whether the pool is slower than at previous Olympics, with the depth of the pool in Paris resulting in slower speeds. David Popovici was expected to give the world record a shake in the men's 200m freestyle, but his winning time wouldn't have won gold at any Games since 2000.

The pool is said to be just 2.15m deep in Paris, much shallower then the recommended depth of 3m by swimming's governing body. It was the opposite situation in Beijing in 2008 when the pool was deeper than the 3m recommendation and a number of records were shattered.