Team USA casts aside Olympic Village for luxury cruise ship
While the rest of their competition are reportedly dealing with subpar living conditions at the prescribed Olympic Village, USA’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will stay in a luxury cruise liner for the 2016 Olympic games, according to reports .
READ: Bomb scare puts Olympic Village at a standstill
The “Silver Cloud,” a ritzy 300-passenger ship with its own gym, pool and bar, will be docked in the port of Rio, the Telegraph reported.
Celebrity news website TMZ tweeted a sneak peak of the athletes’ home for the next two weeks.
Team USA Basketball — Our Brazil Hotel Floats … We’re Staying On a Cruise Ship! https://t.co/OeVq6tZZuz
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 3, 2016
Aside from its lavish amenities, the “Silver Cloud” will also feature beds that are long enough to allow the athletes to sleep comfortably, rather than hotel beds that may cause the taller players to dangle over the edge.
Players will also have their own chefs as well as an access to a library on board, the report said.
Team USA officials likewise invested heavily on security, as the vessel will be protected by a bulletproof fence, as well as some 250 police officers.
This is not the first time that the US basketball teams opted not to stay in the Olympic Village during the games. They also stayed on a cruise ship during the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Team USA stalwart Carmelo Anthony complained of feeling isolated when they last stayed on a cruise ship in 2004.
“We was stuck on a boat,” he said in a Washington Post report in 2008. “We really didn’t have a chance to interact with nobody.”
The team only captured the bronze medal that year, despite being a heavy favorite to win.
Earlier this week, NBA player and Australian national team center Andrew Bogut documented the allegedly uninhabitable living conditions inside the Olympic Village. Khristian Ibarrola
#IOCLuxuryLodging. Putting together a shower curtain so we can shower and not flood the place. pic.twitter.com/omaBJ7Dlje
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) August 2, 2016
