Team Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, aka “The Shark,” who became a breakout star at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, was captured catching some Z’s outside in the Olympic Village’s park. An image of the gold medalist sleeping on a towel on the grass, next to a bench, was shared by a fellow Olympic athlete. It quickly went viral on social media.

Taking to his Instagram page on Saturday (August 3), Team Saudi Arabia’s Husein Alireza, who competes in rowing, shared a story exposing the Italian swimmer taking a nap and tagging the Olympic Village’s Saint-Denis location. 

“Rest today, conquer tomorrow,”  Husein captioned the sneaky snap.

It remains unclear whether the picture was taken before or after Thomas and Italy were eliminated from the men’s 4x100m medley heats, The Daily Mail reported on Sunday (August 4).

Team Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, aka “The Shark,” became a breakout star at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

Image credits: huseinalireza

The sleepy picture comes after Thomas won gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, despite claiming “It’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon at the athletes’ accommodation, which has failed to impress this year.”

 “There is no air conditioning in the village, it’s hot, the food is bad,” the 23-year-old previously complained. “Many athletes move for this reason: it’s not an alibi or excuse, it’s the reality of what perhaps not everyone knows.”

The athlete continued: “Usually, when I’m at home, I always sleep in the afternoon: here I really struggle between the heat and the noise.”

Ariarne Titmus, who won an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 400m freestyle swimming and an Olympic silver medal in the women’s 200m freestyle swimming, previously slammed the “ridiculous” conditions inside the Olympic Village.

Thomas was captured catching some Z’s outside in the Olympic Village’s park

Image credits: huseinalireza

Australia’s queen of the pool is among a host of current athletes who have weighed in on the eco-friendly accommodation arrangements, which include polythene mattresses and beds made from cardboard.

Ariarne candidly opened up about her disappointment over not breaking her world record in the 400m freestyle on Saturday (July 27) despite smashing the Olympic record.

She reportedly said in an interview on Sunday (July 28): “It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform.

“It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”

Paris Olympic Swimming 2024 : Australian Ariarne Titmus earned silver medal in the women’s 800m freestyle. What an amazing swimmer and young Tasmanian. An awesome result she should be so proud of her achievements. 🏊🏼‍♀️🥈🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 #swimmer #AriarneTitms pic.twitter.com/aeIRcQQWmn

— Helen Polley (@polley_helen) August 5, 2024

Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen took a dig at the Olympics, writing in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph on July 29 that the Olympic Games were about “trying to get the perfect performance in the most imperfect environment.”

The fellow Aussie swimmer, who won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, wrote: “We’ve already heard the likes of Ariarne Titmus talk about how difficult life is in the village, so we can’t dismiss those complaints as an athlete whining because they didn’t win gold.”

James, who also secured the title of 100m Freestyle World Champion in 2011 and 2013 before retiring from competitive swimming in 2019, noted that the Olympic Village’s cardboard beds, lack of air conditioning, crowded buses, and constant walking made “village life far from ideal.”

“You add those extenuating circumstances of village life on top of that layer of pressure and expectation in a nation like Australia, it’s actually amazing that athletes can manage to perform at their best or break world records at an Olympic Games,” James wrote.

The image of the gold medalist sleeping on a towel on the grass, next to a bench, was shared by a fellow Olympic athlete

Image credits: ceccon_thomas

The 33-year-old argued: “From our sample size thus far, this Olympics is showing that it may be one of the toughest environments we’ve seen to produce world record swims.”

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games famously launched with a rain-soaked opening ceremony that drenched athletes and spectators alike.

Nevertheless, athletes endured the opposite experience since most of France has been under heat warnings, with temperatures in Paris hitting 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit).

“The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance,” James wrote.

Image credits: ceccon_thomas

He further revealed: “They had a charter that said 60 percent of food in the village had to be vegan friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn’t anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan-friendly ones.”

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James shared: “The caterer had to rejig their numbers and bring in more of those products because surprise, surprise — world-class athletes don’t have vegan diets.

“They must have watched the Netflix doco Game Changers and assumed everyone was the same. 

“But let me tell you, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer — none of those guys are on a vegan diet.

It’s unclear whether the snap was taken before or after Thomas and Italy were eliminated from the men’s 4x100m medley heats

Image credits: ceccon_thomas

“It seemed Paris wanted to be eco first, performance second at the Games.

“I don’t know if that’s a political stance, or if it’s a cost stance, but I think in the future we need to look to other options because the Olympics is the pinnacle sporting event in the world.

“These athletes train their entire career to perform at their best on this stage, and to try and do so from cardboard beds is just suboptimal.”

The swimming star concluded: “For athletes like Ariarne to come out and win gold medals under those circumstances, it makes them even greater.

Image credits: ceccon_thomas

“I think in the future, at Brisbane 2032, they should look at whether a village is an ideal environment to host an Olympic Games from a real estate perspective, a geographical perspective, a cost perspective, and a facility-wise perspective.

“Sometime in the future a host nation or an [International Olympic Committee] will look at hotels as a feasible alternative to an Olympic Village, particularly if results don’t improve at these Games.”

The Olympic Village spans parts of three cities: Saint-Denis, Saint Ouen, and L’Île-Saint-Denis in France.

According to the Olympics’ official website, the village accommodates 14,250 athletes during the Olympic Games and will accommodate 8,000 during the Paralympic Games, which kick off on August 28. 

Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen took a dig at the Olympics

James Magnussen has made his feelings on salad very clear. 😂

STORY: https://t.co/kmFkvgZIsd pic.twitter.com/q8zZCbnJWf

— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) July 29, 2024

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Up to 60,000 meals are served each day, and a medical clinic is available at all times for the athletes. 

After the Games, the Village will become a neighborhood with 2,500 new homes, a student residence, a hotel, a three-hectare landscaped park, about seven hectares of gardens and parks, 120,000 square meters of offices and city services, and 3,200 square meters of neighborhood shops.

The Village met Paris 2024 and SOLIDEO’s requirements, ​​which is the public sector organization tasked with financing, supervising, and delivering the Olympic facilities, regarding environmental goals.

As a result, the Village will reportedly help to protect and foster biodiversity, with rooftops built to house insects and birds, as well as featuring enclosures with openings for small animals to pass through.

“This is unexpected,” a reader commented

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