Whistler village no sweet home to France's Aubert

Published>Thu, Feb 11 10 11:09 PM

Games organisers are very proud of their state-of-the-art Olympic villages in Vancouver and Whistler but not all athletes are impressed.

The Whistler compound boasts fine rooms, top medical facilities and an impressive fitness centre, not to mention pool tables and a fire place.

That is not, however, what French Alpine skier Sandrine Aubert likes to call home.

"It's like living in an airport," she said on Wednesday, criticising the security measures at the entrance of the village hosting 2,850 athletes and team members competing around the mountain resort.

"Controls here, controls there. They even look under the bus to see if there isn't anybody hiding there. And you have to carry your accreditation all over the place. For someone like me who's not too organised, it's all a bit complicated."

Others do like the village, which is less than 20 minutes away from all Whistler competition venues and will be turned into housing after the Games.

"It's very comfortable and has everything we need," said top Swiss Alpine skier Carlo Janka.

"That's good because we could be spending quite a lot of time in here," he added, referring to poor weather conditions making race postponements likely.

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