As other teams struggle with problems with the housing set aside for athletes in Rio, the U.S. men's and women's basketball teams will stay on a luxury cruise ship, according to NPR.
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Two large cruise ships docked in Rio will house the basketball teams along with members of the International Olympic Committee and the guests of the multinational computer company Cisco. The accommodations were first reported by the Brazilian news outlet UOL.
Most of the athletes in Rio will live in the Olympic Village, a complex built to house Olympic athletes, officials, and media. However, there have been major issues with the buildings, including blocked toilets, exposed wiring, leaks, and electrical shorts. The Australian team briefly refused to move in to their rooms because of the poor conditions. When they finally did, their rooms were robbed after a fire forced them to evacuate for half an hour.
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Even after emergency repairs to fix these problems, Australian gymnast Larissa Miller discovered a gas leak in her room:
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Those problems aren't why the men's and women's basketball teams decided to stay on the cruise ships, according to NPR. Traditionally, only amateur athletes were allowed to complete in the Olympic Games. But professional NBA players have been allowed to compete since 1992. Since then, the men's team, at least, has chosen to forego the Olympic Village for more upscale housing
Dallas Mavericks center Andrew Bogut, who's in Rio with the Australian men's basketball team, started the sarcastic hashtag #IOCLuxuryLodging to share his thoughts on the Olympic Village.
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Australians weren't the only ones upset with their housing. Teams from the Philippines and Belarus similarly complained of unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
After seeing Andrew's shower curtain tweet, U.S. race walker John Nunn sarcastically asked him to come hang a curtain over the exposed window in his Olympic Village room so he could get some privacy:
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Meanwhile, tweets from journalists show problems with their accommodations in the Media Village, too:
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These issues have some comparing Rio to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where media reports of poor housing and a lack of preparation cast a shadow over the games.
Still, as athletes continue to arrive in Rio, many have let the world know they're happy to be in the Village are excited for the competitions ahead:
