More than 200 comments were posted on the New York Times’ sport page in connection with Andrew Kehaug’s article about the U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams are again avoiding the athletes’ village at the Rio Olympics for security reasons. “Every four years, the same questions tend to surface before the Summer Olympics: Will the host city be ready? Is Usain Bolt still the world’s fastest man? And what sort of cushy digs will the United States basketball players find for themselves?” Kehaug is asking, adding: “The Games are underway, Bolt is back to defend his sprinting titles and, once again, the men’s and women’s basketball players from the United States are avoiding the athletes’ village. Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Diana Taurasi and the rest of their high-profile teammates are staying on a luxury cruise ship, docked at a pier on the other side of the city. If the team’s lodging seems standoffish, that is by design. U.S.A. Basketball, the organization that oversees the national men’s and women’s teams, has shunned the athletes’ village since 1992. The team stayed on a ship at the 2004 Games in Athens, then used hotels in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012”. For MORE click: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/sports/olympics/rio-2016-basketball
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.