It’s totally fair for Olympic athletes to blow off some steam after weeks of physical and mental punishment at a mid-pandemic Games, but it looks like two Australian teams have taken things a little too far.
Australia’s mens soccer and rugby teams are in deep trouble after causing what sounds like the flight from hell back from Tokyo 2020. Passengers have complained that they suffered a wild 10-hour journey from Tokyo to Sydney last week which reportedly saw the Olympians get wasted, scream their heads off, and throw up in the bathroom—all while maskless.
Furious travelers told News Corp that the male athletes were “loud, singing, refusing to sit down when requested, rowdy and obnoxious,” with one angry passenger telling the network: “Obviously they weren’t wearing their masks as they were drinking all the time.” The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the men left behind vomit stains in the plane toilet.
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The soccer and rugby teams are reportedly blaming each other for the drunken mischief, and several investigations have been launched to get to the bottom of what happened during the long-haul rager.
Australian Olympic Committee boss Matt Carroll said the CEOs of Australian rugby and soccer are probing the embarrassing allegations, and added: “It’s extremely disappointing but both Rugby and Football have told me that such behaviour is certainly not acceptable within their sports and have sincerely apologized to the Australian Olympic Team.”
Carroll added that Japan Airlines hasn’t formally complained about the hijinks, but an airline source told The Australian that on-board staff were upset about the athletes’ repeated refusal to stay in their seats.
Worse still, it seems that the wild flight wasn’t an isolated incident of misbehavior from Australian athletes as they left Tokyo.
The Australian Olympic Committee confirmed that the men’s rowing and rugby teams left a big hole in the wall at the athletes’ accommodation in Tokyo, broke their beds, and also left behind a bit of vomit. However, the unnamed male athletes won’t be punished as they apologized.
“Some young people made a mistake, they had left the rooms in a condition that was unacceptable,” said Team Australia chief Ian Chesterman. “It’s a book as old as time: a good young person makes a mistake, chapter two is a good young person is full of remorse. Chapter three is a good young person learns from the mistake and becomes a better person.”
The men’s soccer and rugby teams both failed to win medals.
