Rio Olympics accommodation makes Australia’s biggest stars nervous

HERE’S a sneak peek at where Aussie athletes will be forced to sleep at the Rio Olympics, and it is making our biggest stars more than a little bit nervous.

THE Australian men’s basketball team at the Rio Olympics is going to be a close-knit unit. Very close.

When Australia’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller published a “sneak peak” (sic) of a team bedroom on Twitter yesterday, it brought a quick response from one of the biggest names – and biggest bodies – in Australian sport, Andrew Bogut.

Ever the optimist, Chiller captioned her picture, “And we’re in the Village!! Better than we remembered, looks great. First sneak peak at a bedroom …”

A sarcastic Bogut didn’t share her enthusiasm.

“Very roomy!” he tweeted in response. “Team-mates can snuggle...”

Australia’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller published a “sneak peak” (sic) of a team bedroom on Twitter.

Given that Bogut is 213cm tall (7ft in the old currency) and weighs in at 118kgs (over 18 stone) and several of his teammates, such as David Anderson, Aron Baynes and Brock Motum, aren’t far behind in the bulk stakes, his reaction wasn’t unreasonable.

The twin-share room would be a tight fit for just one large athlete (or even a small one), let alone two.

The single beds are pushed against the side walls as far apart as they can go, but even so, there is a space of only around 30cms between them – about half the size of one of Bogut’s size 19 shoes.

And we're in the Village!! Better than we remembered, looks great. First sneak peak at a bedroom.... pic.twitter.com/3djFGxCm76

— Kitty Chiller (@kittychiller) July 16, 2016

Very roomy! Team mates can snuggle.... https://t.co/1Vt6IOREJz

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) July 17, 2016

The bedheads are resting against a glass door, blocking access to a balcony, and there is no wardrobe, hanging space or desks to be seen.

An Australian Olympic official admitted yesterday that it was “always a challenge” to find suitable accommodation for the team’s largest members but the basketballers’ rooms would be fitted with “bed extensions”.

With the open entry door to the photographed room appearing to be within a few centimetres of the end of a bed as is, it will be interesting to see how the extensions will work, but athletes the size of Bogut and co have learnt to be adaptable.

Asked a few years back about the challenges of life on the road as a pro sportsman, he listed “getting sleep” as his number one concern, but as a multi-millionaire NBA star his club did everything it could to help, such as extra-large seats on charter flights and kingsize beds in hotel rooms.

Australian Boomers star Andrew Bogut.

Even so, he said, the sleep arrangements required ingenuity.

“If you sleep diagonally you get an extra six inches or so of room” he said.

“I never really get to stretch out. You get used to it.”

While he is battling to overcome a leg injury just to get to Rio, it will be interesting to see if

Bogut can “get used to” the sleeping arrangements in the athletes’ village.

No doubt he would have loved to see the Australian Olympic Committee follow the lead of their US counterparts who leased a mansion on the outskirts of Barcelona and imported extra-large beds for the original Dream Team led by Michael Jordan in 1992.

It was a move that brought some controversy and accusations of elitism, with one reporter questioning coach Chuck Daly on the matter at the team press conference.

By way of answering, Daly looked across at the players sitting on the stage with him and asked 216cm-tall David Robinson, Patrick Ewing (213cm) and Christian Laettner (211cm) to stand up.

“Are you going to find me a bed in the village big enough for these guys to sleep in?” he asked.

And with that, the issue was put to bed.

Hockeyroos star Casey Eastman marvels over the shoe size difference of Basketballer Andrew Bogut and diver Melissa Wu before the London Olympics in 2012.

Originally published as Rio Olympics accommodation makes Australia’s biggest stars nervous