'Please save us': Leaks, bed shortages plague Asian Games village ahead of Aichi-Nagoya opener

A container-style prefabricated accommodation complex near Nagoya Port, built for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. [Yonhap]

Complaints about accommodation are mounting among delegations at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with just five days to go before the opening ceremony. Shortfalls in the number of bedrooms at the container-style athletes' village, compounded by leaks and other facility problems, have drawn fire at the organizing committee's preparations.

According to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, representatives of the 45 National Olympic Committees affiliated with the Olympic Council of Asia have been raising a string of concerns — covering accommodation, transportation and catering — at chef de mission meetings with the organizing committee.

The most pressing issue is the athletes' village. Citing cost savings and environmental goals, the organizing committee opted against building a conventional high-rise apartment village, instead housing athletes in prefabricated container units and aboard large cruise ships.

About 9,000 athletes and officials will stay in regular city hotels, about 4,000 aboard cruise ships, and about 2,000 in the container village set up near Nagoya Bay.

But a shortage of bedrooms in the container village has triggered complaints even before competition begins.

A Korean Sport & Olympic Committee official told Yonhap that if the organizing committee had promised a given NOC 100 container bedrooms, roughly 20 of those rooms are currently missing.

South Korea is sending a delegation of 1,052 athletes across 41 sports. Among them, the men's basketball team, the jujutsu squad, athletes in five cycling disciplines and three headquarters officials are staying in the container village, which accommodates up to six people per unit.

Delegations competing in 18 sports — including archery, table tennis, judo and gymnastics — will be housed aboard a cruise ship docking at Kinjo Wharf in Nagoya Port on Tuesday.

South Korea's men's basketball team, which arrived early to play group-stage matches before the official opening, has been among the most vocal in its dissatisfaction.

National team guard Byun Jun-hyung posted a video on social media Friday showing water pooling across his bathroom floor from a leaking sink, captioning it "Please save us." Lee Hyun-jung, who stands 202 centimeters tall, told a local outlet the conditions were "tough," adding that since "complaining won't change anything," he was looking for ways to make his space more comfortable.

The container units measure about 69 square meters, and the single beds inside are roughly 195 centimeters long. Extension mattresses are available, but taller athletes will inevitably find the setup uncomfortable.

Jung Jae-yong, vice president of the Korea Basketball Association, was quoted by JoongAng Ilbo as calling the accommodation "the worst in the history of the Games, judged purely on lodging."

In China, reports on the athletes' village conditions prompted criticism online, with some commenters saying it looked "more like a refugee camp than an athletes' village."

As the controversy grew, the organizing committee acknowledged the bedroom shortage and was said to be scrambling to secure additional hotel rooms.

Meanwhile, the episode has drawn comparisons to the "cardboard bed" controversy that surrounded the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which Japan hosted in 2021.

At those Games, Japan also promoted an eco-friendly ethos, introducing cardboard beds in the athletes' village. The beds — 90 centimeters wide and 210 centimeters long, slightly smaller than a standard single — were engineered to bear up to 200 kilograms, but athletes' mockery and complaints about their durability created an embarrassing episode for the organizers.

The cardboard beds at the Tokyo Olympics athletes' village, photographed in June 2021. [AFP-Yonhap]

betterj@heraldcorp.com