Winter Olympics: Athletes give village thumbs down

TURIN - The Olympic athletes' villages have been given a big thumbs down by many leading competitors at the Winter Games.

World Cup champion Bode Miller, a favourite in the Alpine ski racing, has opted out of the village in the resort of Sestriere, preferring to stay in the camper bus he uses on the World Cup tour.

"The athletes' village is really in a lot of ways for a competition not a healthy living environment. The beds are really small and uncomfortable," the outspoken 28-year-old told reporters ahead of the Games which begin on Friday.

"I have a motor-home here, I have my own food, my own bed, my own pillows. I am pretty much fully self-sufficient.

"I think in these big events keeping things as consistent as you can is very important."

His team mate Daron Rahlves, who won two world championship medals last year, also has his own mobile home with his wife Michelle and dog for company.

"It is really nice to have a comfortable living area," he said.

Austrian skier Rainer Schoenfelder said he intended to spend as little time as possible in Sestriere.

"After the combined I will go away, after the giant slalom I will go away," Schoenfelder said on his personal website.

The technical specialist, who finished fourth in combined at Salt Lake City in 2002, said that the Olympic village was not right for his preparation.

"During the Olympics people are so emotional -- both positively and negatively. It is like you are fighting for your life," he said.

"That's great but it is not the right kind of energy and environment to concentrate on the race ahead."

While Miller and Rahlves chose not to rub shoulders with the thousands of athletes who make the village their base for the duration of the Games, others were at least attempting to adjust to their surroundings.

American men's figure skater Johnny Weir soaked up the atmosphere in the Turin village but he too remained rather unimpressed with the accommodation in Lingotto.

Cold and dusty

"It's very cool to be in the Olympics village because it is the Olympic village but I'm roughing it as the room is cold and dusty," the three-times American champion said.

"I'm very princessy as far as travel is concerned as I like my creature comforts. I've been coughing from the dust."

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, however, could not find any fault with the facilities.

Rogge, who prefers to stay at the athletes' village during the Games instead of far more luxurious official IOC hotels, said it met all requirements for top athletes.

"I think that it is very top quality," he said after visiting most areas in the Turin village including the medical centre, the gym and the internet cafe.

"I would compare (the village) with that of (the 1994) Lillehammer Games.

"I tested my mattress this morning," he said when asked whether he had liked his room. "The acoustic quality of the room is very good. You can't hear anything and you know for athletes, acoustics are very important."

- REUTERS