Swimming champion Ariarne Titmus has revealed the truth about the state of the Olympic village following the Games in Paris.
Titmus appeared on The Project on Thursday night to talk about what things were like when she wasn’t competing, and while she said the village felt like home because she was there with her fellow athletes, it certainly wasn’t as “glamorous” as organisers would have viewers believe.
“The best part was our baristas, who had two baristas in our little precinct. They did it all up and it felt like home, we had Aussie food, TimTams and chockies” she said, while speaking about the Australian Olympic Committee.
“But the village isn’t as glamorous as people think.”
The Aussie swimmer, who took home two gold medals this year, shared some shocking revelations about the state of the accommodation that the athletes had to deal with.
“Our bed sheets got changed after first night we were there and then they didn’t get changed for the rest of the time we were there, so we were living in filth,” she said.
Titmus also said that toilet paper was in short supply.
“We would have to lie about how many roommates we had so we could scab toilet rolls,” she told the shocked panel.
“We’d run out of toilet roll and then they’d only give us one for four days.”
She added that the coffee in Europe was not up to scratch and the was relieved when she finally boarded the plane home.
“The cup of coffee I had on the plane home was better than any coffee I had in Europe the entire time,” she added.
Titmus also chatted about the infamous cardboard beds that hit headlines around the world and went viral on social media.
“I was very lucky, Tempur gave me a mattress. The mattresses that were there were like fishing wire all tangled up, and they were in three seconds, three parts that went together. So they weren’t even one big mattress!”
It comes after Titmus revealed the unexpected toll her sport has taken on her body while appearing on Channel 9 on Sunday morning, revealing some bruises on her quad muscles.
“So our togs are so tight that they just leave marks when you are pinching yourself to pull them on, and then a few [of the] lower ones are from rolling out the lane ropes and getting out of the pool,” Titmus said.
“You get a bit dinged up when you’re racing but they’ll go away.”
When asked about the physical and mental toll of her campaign she said: “I knew what to expect physically and emotionally coming into this from learning from last Olympics. “Emotionally, this week, I had so much expectation on me the past few years to go back-to-back and continue my winning streak internationally, the 400m especially.”
