Quite different from all those we have seen before. The secret life in the Olympic village is likely to be revealed to the world more than ever before.
Not that the TV channels have got any secret cameras installed inside the bedrooms at the Village, but it is social networking site twitter that has opened a new platform for the athletes to reveal the secrets themselves, sometimes supplemented with pictures.
Athletes started arriving into London yesterday and straightaway the media did not even have to run and make its way around London’s chaotic traffic in rain to get a peek into what all happened.
But some teams, including the British team, while allowing use of social media, have laid down some grounds for tweeting and appealed to think before they tweet.
The social media vehicle revealed stories — albeit through 140 characters and a few pictures — about missing kit, small and uncomfortable beds and requests for lengthening of mattresses and transport vehicles losing way enroute to the Olympic Village, all revealed to the world in real time, reported London’s Evening Standard.
The Village and athletes’ miseries were once a top secret that organisers always managed to control.
But when an athlete is stuck in traffic for four hours and sees his bus going around in circles, there is little he can do but vent his frustration through twitter available on his smartphone.
This is only bound to increase in the coming days, said an official, who himself was tweeting about his new uniform at the media centre.
American hurdler Kerron Clement, gold medalist at Beijing in 2008, was upset at stuck in London traffic for four hours as their bus driver got lost while rower Maria Gabriela Best from Argentina, who stands 6ft 1in tall tweeted that she was forced to request an extension to her bed.
Her teammate, Maria Laura Abalo, also six—foot—plus tweeted: “The beds are small. I’ve got the feet to the edge.”
There were some good things, too. Like Clement was more than pacified by the food when he arrived at the Village.
He tweeted, “Eating at the Olympic Village. Love the variety of food choices. African, Caribbean, Halal cuisine, Indian and Asian and of course McDonalds.”
His teammate, American 400 metre runner Tony McQuay tweeted about the Village, “OMG this place just got even better with the food. I’m in heaven.”
Then he added, “Don’t mean to make y’all jealous but this place is like heaven 3D. I wish I could bring this village back to the US.”
The British swimming team revealed they were on a “date night” with the men and women pairing up and setting off for dinner, while James Goddard and three other male swimmers posted pictures in dressing gowns and double gold medallist Rebecca Adlington tweeted a picture of her messy bedroom.
The US beach volleyball star Jennifer Kessy said her kitbags had been left in France.
Four years ago, social media analysts said that there were 27 tweets per second, and now in London 2012, it has risen to 27,000 per second.
A bus carrying Australian team officials took three hours to get to the village, taking in diversions via Buckingham Palace and West Ham.
The reason: the driver was unable to operate the satellite navigation system.
A member of the Australian party of medical staff used an iPhone to navigate.
As the bus went past the Buckingham Palace, Australian sailor Elise Rechichi tweeted, “Buckingham Palace — on the way to the Olympic Village?! Not the most direct route.”
