An Australian Olympian has shed further light on the dire conditions at the Olympic Village after athletes blocked communal bikes.
Tennis star Daria Saville posted a video on social media on Tuesday of her doubles partner Ellen Peres riding one of the communal seatless bicycles.
Electric bicycles were introduced so that athletes staying in the village could reach the training areas within 20 minutes from their accommodation.
However, the athletes soon noticed that some of their more greedy companions had used bicycle locks to secure their bikes and use them whenever they wanted.
Others in the village responded by removing the seats to free the bikes from the lock, allowing athletes to ride them standing up.
“The bikes are meant to be shared here in the village, but some clever people brought their own locks or took the whole bike seat so no one else could use them,” Saville captioned the video on TikTok.
“But we were in a hurry, so we had to do it.”
However, the case appears to have been resolved as a BMX athlete reportedly took the blame for removing the seats to remove the locks.
Australian tennis duo Daria Saville and Ellen Peres revealed that selfish athletes in the Olympic Village have locked bicycles and removed seats from communal electric bikes (pictured)
Ms Saville’s video attracted hundreds of comments from viewers who were shocked to see the state of the village.
“The Olympic Village has a low-key atmosphere, like a bankrupt trade fair,” wrote one viewer.
Another added: “I think they should penalise or name those who try to block public bikes, that’s not fair.”
A third wrote: “That’s very rude.”
A quarter said it was the second video they had seen of athletes complaining that others were “impeding them from cycling”.
One spectator was shocked by the “lazy” act in an area that hosts the “world’s best athletes.”
Another commented that it was fortunate that Peres was a world-class athlete.
“Thank God you are an athlete, my legs could never do it,” they wrote.
Earlier this week, Saville revealed on social media that the Village is nothing like staying in a hotel.
“Here in the Olympic Village we don’t have a cleaning service like a hotel so you have to get your own toilet paper,” she captioned a video of herself holding several rolls.
Doubles partners Daria Saville (left) and Ellen Perez have shed further light on the dire conditions at the Olympic Village.
It is just the latest blow for Olympic hosts after swimming legend Ariarne Titmus criticised “green” accommodation arrangements in Paris (pictured, Olympic Village)
This is just the latest blow for Olympic hosts after Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus criticised the “eco-friendly” accommodation conditions in Paris.
In the Olympic Village there are polyethylene mattresses, cardboard beds and mediocre food options.
Titmus did not hold back when asked if she was disappointed at not breaking her world record when she won back-to-back gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle on Saturday night, despite breaking the Olympic record.
“It probably wasn’t the moment I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it difficult to perform,” he admitted in an interview on Sunday.
“It’s definitely not built for high performance, so it’s about who can really hold it together in the mind.”
There were high hopes that Titmus would also defend her 200m title on Monday, but she had to settle for silver behind Australian team-mate Mollie O’Callaghan.