Tokyo Olympics: Australian athletes left vomit in room, caused chaos on flight home
- Some athletes damaged their rooms at the athletes’ village, leaving a pool of vomit and a hole in the wall
- New Zealand’s Olympians were also involved in drunken antics on a flight back home, with some throwing masks at the crew
Australian media reported that a raucous gathering left damaged beds and a hole in the wall. Cleaners had to clear a pool of vomit in one room.
Team Australia chief Ian Chesterman played down the incident, saying that the offenders had apologised and would not be punished.
“Some young people made a mistake, they had left the rooms in a condition that was unacceptable,” said Chesterman.
He described the damage as “minor” and that it was “not the hardest thing to break the cardboard bed”.
“There was a hole in the wall, but that’s pretty easy to do,” he added.
“It is a book as old as time: a good young person makes a mistake, chapter two is a good, young person is full of remorse. Chapter three is a good young person learns from the mistake and becomes a better person.”
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Rugby Australia said later on Tuesday it had launched its own investigation after being told by officials of “unacceptable” behaviour by rugby and football players on the flight home from the Olympics.
Passengers on the 10-hour flight from Tokyo to Sydney had complained of rowdy behaviour as the Olympians reportedly became drunk.
Vomit was left in the plane’s bathroom, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“Rugby Australia has been made aware of incidents involving the Australian men’s Sevens programme after being informed by the Australian Olympic Committee,” it said.
“Rugby Australia has begun its own internal investigation into the matter … Rugby Australia expects the highest standards of all its employees, modelling the values of our game – respect, integrity, passion and teamwork.”
Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll said he had received reports from the CEOs of rugby and football, investigating reports of rowdy behaviour on a flight into Sydney last Friday.
“It’s extremely disappointing but both Rugby and Football [governing bodies] have told me that such behaviour is certainly not acceptable within their sports and have sincerely apologised to the Australian Olympic Team,” he said.
“The CEOs have undertaken to take the appropriate action and report back to us. While there has been no formal complaint from the airline, unacceptable behaviour was brought to our attention and I directly raised the issue with our member sports CEOs.”
Masks thrown at crew
The country’s athletes came under fire after allegedly behaving badly on a flight back home – with reports of excessive drinking, and used face masks being thrown at the flight crew.
The first charter plane from Japan touched down in Christchurch on Monday, carrying members of the victorious Black Ferns Sevens and the All Blacks Sevens teams, as well as swimmers, trampolinists, skeet shooters and surfers.
But the journey has been described as a “party bus” with a witness describing drunken antics and calling athletes’ behaviour “appalling”.
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“They drank excessively and were out of control the entire journey,” a witness told Stuff.
At one point during the flight, a pilot approached the athletes – said to be drunk – to speak to them about their behaviour, the witness said.
The witness described athletes dancing in the aisles, singing loudly and playing music.
They also claimed that some athletes removed their masks and threw them at members of the flight crew.
It is understood no complaints had been received by Air New Zealand that brought the team home.
Additional reporting by The New Zealand Herald
