Great Britain’s celebrating athletes are to be reminded not to disturb their team-mates with raucous partying once they have finished competition. With Team GB having won more medals in the first week to celebrate than ever before, officials will tell athletes from sports that have finished their events to respect those still competing.
A perennial problem at the Games has been the staggered starts of the various sports. So while 47 rowers have been moving into the Olympic village for the first time, around half of them with a medal round their necks and intent on partying, some competitors from sports such as modern pentathlon are also moving in and preparing for competition. The rowers were previously based near their venue but have moved into the village to join the swimmers and others who have finished competing.
In past Olympics the situation has occasionally led to tension. The British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards famously described the swimming team as “awful” in Sydney in 2000 and suggested that around 90% of them were “only there to have fun”.
Some athletes, having been on strict training regimes for months and released from the intense pressure of competition, can take their partying too far. The German discus thrower Robert Harting celebrated gold in 2012 by getting so drunk on a German cruise ship that he fell asleep on the train, was robbed and then struggled to get back into the Olympic Village.
American swimmer Ryan Lochte told ESPN in 2012 he liked to celebrate by “hitting a local pub and drinking with the soccer hooligans”. This week, Lochte was robbed at gunpoint as he returned to the Village with three other swimmers in the early hours.
In 2011 Sir Clive Woodward, then working for the British Olympic Assocation, drew up a list of standards for athletes ahead of London 2012 that included keeping the noise down and keeping their rooms tidy.
The 2016 Team GB chef de mission, Mark England, said he would be relying on common sense from the athletes, describing the team dynamic between the various sports as the “best ever”.
While athletes will be encouraged to celebrate their successes with team-mates and families, they will also be asked to respect those still competing. “We’ll regroup with the team leaders and remind them of the ‘every day is day one’ mentality and the fact that we have a significant number of [people from] sports who are just arriving and just starting their competition,” he said.
“We absolutely expect athletes to celebrate their success and to celebrate the end of competition. But we’d also ask them to support other athletes during the day and that quiet time.”
