Lack of Village Causes Problems in Veracruz

(ATR) The absence of an athletes village at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games caused some logistical issues for athletes and officials.

Around 6,000 athletes and officials were moved into hotels rooms in Veracruz and Xalapa for the games instead of the athlete’s village that was constructed.

Steve Stoute, vice president of the Central American Sports Organization and the Caribbean and president of the Barbados National Olympic Committee, told Around the Rings that the shift brought logistical, security, food and laundry issues to the games at the start.

"You lose the whole concept of a multi-sport games and the camaraderie that happens in a games village concept," Stoute said.

"Teams from all over get together and meet and socialize, and that’s a partial phenomenon that is lost."

Stoute said that Veracruz, a popular tourist destination in Mexico, has around 2,000 hotel rooms in 40 hotels available for use during the games.

The logistical problems stemmed from having to accommodate transportation from around various hotels to different sport venues rather than from one central location in an athlete’s village.

"For big teams, it may not be a major problem, but for small teams that have 30 competitors in five sports, one bus moving to five venues with two or three competitors can be a problem."

Another issue stemmed from hotels not having the capacity to handle the laundry load of the teams they were accommodating.

"These teams practice every day, so you have massive laundry every day for uniforms to use the next day, so laundry has been a problem."

Stoute said that the hotels have partnered with commercial laundry enterprises in the area to alleviate the burden and keep things running smoothly.

Lack of food quality has been an issue for athletes, as the accommodation standards range from five-star hotels to hotels with one star.

"People have complained about the standards of accommodations, but we are in the second week of the games, and despite this, the games are proceeding and a number of records have been broken."

Around the Rings placed calls to two hotels in Veracruz, and found that rooms are available at the Emporio Veracruz, while the Hotel Veracruz Centro Historico was booked through the games.

A total of 31 countries and 5,707 athletes participated in 36 sports, and the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games will run through November 30 in Veracruz, Mexico.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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