July 14, 2022

It is often an important moment when an athlete arrives at a major event in which he is participating. The discovery of the room in which he will spend 10 to 15 days, sometimes more. A small universe that will allow him to rest, concentrate and relax before entering competition. An ephemeral place of life in which sportsmen and women will spend long hours every day, between training sessions, treatments at the physiotherapist and meals, so many moments that punctuate the day during a major championship. . The goal, to seek to feel as much as possible like at home to better manage the pressure of the competition. HAS Eugene, a small university town in Oregon, where the Belgian delegation landed on Tuesday from Irvine in the suburbs of Los Angeles where it had been training since July 3, it was rather a cold shower that awaited the athletes. “Prison break“some wrote on social media sharing photos of what will be their accommodation until July 24.”We are housed in student rooms on the university campus. It’s small and spartan but you have to get used to it“explains laconically Nafi Thiam. “Either way, we have no choice.“

It’s clearly disrespectful

For the athletes, accustomed to the standards of hospitality and comfort of international hotels, this situation legitimately creates a bit of unnecessary tension. “Frankly, it’s disrespectful and unworthy of an event like this, world championships that are still aimed at top athletes” chain Kevin Borlée. “All year round, we make efforts to take care of recovery, sleep, those little important things that make the difference in an athlete’s life. And there, we arrive in the United States, we expect everything to be big and on top and we find ourselves in a tiny room with really uncomfortable mattresses. Fortunately, we are all housed in the same boat, except the United States team which resides elsewhere.” A preferential treatment which also raises questions in terms of fairness. An inequality which raises questions and questions among other athletes. “We are 3 in a room of just a few square meters” add Julien Watrin. “We had to put a mattress on the floor to prevent one of us from sleeping in a bunk bed that was too small. And to move around the room, we have to step over the suitcases that we don’t have choice but to leave on the ground. We have never seen that in our career.“

Fortunately, the sports facilities are of very high quality in this city considered the world cradle of track athletics since Bill Bowermanone of the co-founders of Nike, taught the art of running, jumping and throwing there for almost three decades, developing there in the early 1950s a real culture of what is called here the “Track and Field“.