Olympic athlete Husein Alireza, who captured Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon napping outside his designated room, is sharing new details about the viral photo.
“Lots of fake news coming out of my story yesterday,” the Saudi Arabia rower wrote via his Instagram Story on Monday, August 5. “To clarify, the location was not a ‘park,’ but the Olympic Village. It’s also very common for athletes to take naps on the grass by the river.”
Just one day earlier, Alireza, 30, went on social media after photographing Ceccon, 23, seemingly napping next to a bench. “Rest today, conquer tomorrow,” he wrote via his Instagram Story on Sunday, August 5.
Publications from around the world discovered the photo and began writing articles claiming Ceccon was sleeping at a “park.” Alireza, however, later shared an assortment of headlines via his Instagram Story and wrote, “Fake news.”
The viral photo comes after Ceccon expressed discomfort at the Olympic Village, which is where thousands of athletes live during the Games.
Italian gold medal-winning swimmer Thomas Ceccon sleeping next to park bench. He complained about the lack of A/C and noise inside the athletes village. pic.twitter.com/xQADZ37T4h
— SAINT (@saint) August 4, 2024
“There is no air conditioning in the village. It’s hot. The food is bad,” he said. “Many athletes move for this reason: it’s not an alibi or excuse, it’s the reality of what perhaps not everyone knows.”
Ceccon added that he had been “too tired” because “it’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon.”
“Usually, when I’m at home, I always sleep in the afternoon,” he explained. “Here, I really struggle between the heat and the noise.”
Ceccon has still found success during the Paris Olympics. The swimmer won gold in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. He also earned a bronze medal after competing in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle race.
Other athletes have documented their stays in the Olympic Village. In a July 27 TikTok video, Team USA tennis star Coco Gauff said there were two bathrooms for 10 girls to share. She later clarified in the comments section, “All the tennis girls moved to a hotel except me. So now just 5 girls, 2 bathrooms.”
Track and field athlete Chari Hawkins highlighted the lack of privacy for changing clothes because her room didn’t have curtains. At the same time, she praised organizers for having custom mattress toppers available for athletes to sleep better.
“I will be completely honest,” Hawkins, 33, said via TikTok on July 30. “Every single morning when I wake up, my back is killing me and it is not getting better so I was so grateful when I got these mattress toppers in. It’s definitely better.”
