Olympians chill out in alternative village
AN AERIAL VIEW OF St. Mary's University College at Twickenham. Image from www.smuc.ac.uk
LONDON, United Kingdom - On the other side of London, from the frenzy and commotion of the Olympic Park, a hundred competitors are training and relaxing in a more chilled-out, alternative Athletes' Village.
Largely from China, Japan and South Africa, they have snubbed the free accommodation on the park in Stratford, east London, opting instead to stay in a leafy university campus more than an hour away, where the vibe is calmer.
St. Mary's University College in Twickenham, west London, is in the shadow of England's national rugby stadium.
There, competitors can eat in restaurants rather than a canteen, walk to the athletics track rather than take a bus, and enjoy the calm of leafy, comfortable suburbia.
"It's hectic in the Olympic Park," said Hezekiel Sepeng, the South African athletics squad manager.
"You see a lot of media, they want interviews. (And then) you have to take the bus," said the 800m silver medallist from the 1996 Atlanta Games.
At the Olympic Park, "everything is under control. At St. Mary's, things are controlled by us," he told AFP.
Read full story here. - Rappler.com
