Team Jamaica awaiting full allotment of beds at Olympic Village
PARIS, France — With just a few days before Jamaica’s athletes arrive in the Olympic Village, the team’s Chef de Mission Ian Kelly says they have yet to receive their full allocation of beds from the local organising committee (LOC).
The athletes are to begin arriving in the Olympic village between Tuesday and Thursday, with the Olympics running from July 26 to August 11. However, Kelly told the Jamaica Observer that Jamaica Olympic Association has assembled an experienced management team and they have been working to rectify this issue with the LOC.
“The fact is that we would not have received the level of allocation of beds that we would have requested, but [given] the team, and the innovations, and level of experience within this team, we will make it work so that our athletes, when they get here, will be comfortable,” he said. “We will ensure that whatever is required to make them comfortable, we are [there] to [answer] their call — and we will have that done within the shortest time.”
Kelly says there is no air conditioning in the Jamaicans’ rooms at the village, but they have been promised by the organisers that this will not affect them.
“There are fans,” he said. “The rooms are relatively cool. I think the cooling system that has been put in place, while it is not driven by air conditioning, is pretty cool at night.
“They [organisers] have made some recommendations with respect to how we use the blinds in the days and cooling at nights. So far, we have been having hot days but the buildings are cool and the airflow is pretty good. I would think that they would have considered many of these things, hence the reason why air conditioning is not in the rooms.”
Kelly says most of the buildings in the Olympic Village were recently built and there are still some minor glitches that the organisers are addressing.
“The fact is: I am not focused on issues because what I am about is ensuring that when all our athletes get here on the 24th... the facility assigned to us is in the best shape,” he said. “The truth is, like anything else with new buildings, new constructions, there are some teething pains. Thus far, what is important to us within the Jamaican delegation is that the local organising committee is responding to the issues we have raised with them.
“The village is quite nice. It is a modern village, it has modern facilities, and it has modern amenities. I think that where there are gaps, the Jamaican delegation will ensure that those gaps are filled and we will have a great Olympics. Our team will be able to respond and compete at their best without even thinking about anything external to what they are here for.”