For as much attention and detail the London Olympics organizers have put into the Summer Games, one major oversight was the size of the beds for athletes in the Olympic Village.
Have you seen them? They’re absolutely tiny and only measure 68″ in length. Yes, that means they’re only suited for athletes 5’8″ and smaller.
Well Jamaica wasn’t having any of that small bed nonsense.
Jamaica’s track coach Glen Mills was dissatisfied with the size of the beds at Jamaica’s training facility at the University of Birmingham in England, so he ordered a special bed for Bolt and six of Jamaica’s other large athletes.
“There was a fear Usain would be uncomfortable with his bed so in the last few days we’ve had a special orthopaedic mattress made for him,” said Zena Wooldridge, the director of sport at the University of Birmingham, according to the Telegraph.
“Coach Mills wanted the bed made as a precaution so Usain was as comfortable as possible,” she explained. “We used a bed company to supply us with half a dozen 7ft beds for some other athletes so they made us the new mattress. Usain spent his first night in it on Tuesday.
“It’s absolutely critical that the athletes are looked after while they’re staying in Birmingham so we were only too happy to help,” she said.
If Bolt’s back problems are bad enough where he needs a special orthopedic mattress, then maybe there was something more to his losses in qualifying than we thought. And maybe Carl Lewis’ prediction will turn out to be prescient rather than Bolt’s crazy prediction.
Let’s just hope the athletes will be able to get the same special treatment when they move into London next week.
Note: This post also appeared on Medal Detector
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
