Nagoya, Japan: South Korea’s team chef de mission Lee Sang-hyun rebuked Asian Games organisers on Tuesday for logistical failures that have disrupted athletes and said concrete measures must be taken to ensure the problems are not repeated.
Lee told Reuters his delegation had requested a meeting with senior Games officials and a formal apology 'at a higher level' after South Korean athletes were repeatedly impacted by accommodation and transport issues at the multi-sport event in Japan.
“I hope the organising committee and the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) will give these issues greater attention,” he said at 'Korea House', the team’s Games hospitality hub in Nagoya.
“More than simply apologising, I believe it is important for them to come up with concrete measures to prevent these problems from happening again and put those measures into practice.
“However, they have not yet provided us with any concrete plans for how they intend to improve things going forward.”
The Olympic Council of Asia, which governs the quadrennial Asian Games, did not provide immediate comment.
In a bid to reduce costs, local organisers have accommodated athletes and officials in a mix of hotels, temporary wooden containers, and a cruise ship rather than build a traditional Games village.
South Korea moved its men’s basketball team out of their container units at Garden Pier and into hotels because the beds were too short and after one of the huts flooded during heavy rain.
Lee said the containers were extremely cramped for the basketball players and also took aim at administrative confusion on the cruise ship over bookings and room assignments, saying it had caused athletes considerable inconvenience.
The men’s team had to cancel a training session hours before their final against hosts Japan because their shuttle bus did not show up.
“It was understandably very unsettling for the players. And because it was such an important final, and especially because they were playing Japan, the host country, it made the situation all the more significant,” said Lee.
Other South Korean teams, including the defending champion men’s football side, have been hit with transport issues.
Lee put the problems down to cost-cutting and said that had impacted athletes, the 'heart of the Games'.
“In placing greater emphasis on these priorities, I think the Aichi-Nagoya Games have experienced some shortcomings in terms of administration,” he said.
South Korea’s men’s hockey team were also upset when the North Korean national anthem was played before their 5-0 win over Bangladesh instead of their own.
Lee said he believed that had a 'significant negative impact' on the players and confirmed Games officials had visited the team to apologise.
Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Deputy Secretary General Takaaki Omi told reporters on Tuesday that the anthem mix-up was unquestionably a serious mistake but said accommodation and transport arrangements had generally been functioning properly.
The bus that failed to turn up for the basketball players was a simple case of human error, he said.
“While I would like to apologise to the athletes and team officials for the areas where we have been unable to respond as flexibly as we should have, we will proceed by prioritising the competitions above all else going forward,” he said.