Brennan: Americans make themselves at home in Rio
RIO DE JANIERO – There were no public complaints, no nasty tweets and no screaming headlines, but the U.S. Olympic Committee quietly brought in its own “fix it” crew to take care of various problems in its building in the Rio Olympic athletes' village before the Americans moved in over the past week.
The issues ranged from plumbing work involving toilets and sinks to cleaning the apartments to dry-wall reconstruction.
“Like any Olympic Games, we always have minor issues that need to be fixed,” USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said Tuesday. “We bring people with us to make sure athletes have the right conditions to succeed on the field of play.”
The USOC transported several of its “facilities people” to Rio from its Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to do the work, Sandusky said. This is standard operating procedure for every Olympic Games, he said.
It’s no surprise that American Olympic officials kept their concerns quiet while others, particularly the Australians, complained publicly about plumbing and electrical problems in their athletes’ suites.
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As the sports world’s only true superpower, not to mention the oversized role the nation plays in the real world, the USA does its best to downplay any problems it might face at the Olympics, which are, after all, the largest regularly scheduled gathering of the world.
This inclination has turned into a wise strategy now that the USOC has a very strong candidate city in Los Angeles trying to win the right to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The last thing the USOC wants to do is create any negative headlines a few days before the start of an Olympics. No matter how real the issues are, American concerns might be viewed unfavorably by fussy International Olympic Committee members who will pick the 2024 host city next year.
But that hasn’t stopped athletes from telling the truth about what was happening in the U.S. living quarters.
“The USOC did an amazing job,” said Gevvie Stone, 31, a doctor who also is a member of the U.S. Olympic rowing team in women’s single sculls. “I got here Sunday. I know they brought in people. I think they had to do some more work from what I hear. With what everyone's saying, we came in with expectations on the lower side in terms of what you might face, and you walk in and you see the gardens and how well everything's done, so overall, it’s been above expectations.”
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The U.S. building stands out in the Olympic athletes village for what is not there. There are no national flags flying out the windows of the 18-story drab, gray high-rise. There is no colorful bunting draped along the balconies. There are no mascots at the front door.
You’d never know who’s staying there, until you think about it for a moment.
The Canadians, the Germans, the Poles, the Australians – you can tell from a mile away where they’re spending the next two and a half weeks. You can’t miss the flags and signs, all bearing the recognizable colors of each nation.
But the Americans? For security reasons, it has been USOC policy for many years to not allow any patriotic symbols to be displayed on the exterior of the building where 555 U.S. athletes and dozens of coaches and support staff are staying.
Four years ago in London, the American athletes found a way to follow the rules and still exhibit their national pride. Their building had a courtyard, so the athletes draped flags on the inside of the building. In Rio, there is no courtyard, but athletes say there are plenty of USOC logos and flags posted in their living areas.
The USA isn’t the only nation to abide by these precautions. It is joined by one other: Israel.
Its building, housing 47 athletes and a total delegation of 100, is also recognizable only by its lack of national signage — a tribute, in its own way, to the tragedy of the 1972 Munich Games, and the diligence of its current-day leaders to make sure no such horror happens again.
