Members of Canada’s advance team to the Commonwealth Games are scrambling to fix the mess at residences for Canadian athletes in New Delhi, but say the prospect of getting things perfect for the Oct. 3 opening of the Games may prove impossible.
“Some things are well done – the dining hall and the training facilities,” said Canadian team attaché Yan Huckendubler. “But the residences – it’s not just a question of a bed not being comfortable or showers not being powerful enough; there’s gravel on the floor of bedrooms. It’s revolting.”
A source said Canadians on site for the Games were busily mopping up Wednesday. Residences in the athletes’ village also have unfinished plumbing and electricity.
“It’s as though they finished the main construction and left without checking any of it,” Mr. Huckendubler said. “We had an advance group of 10 to 12 trying to make everything ready for the team’s arrival, but we quickly realized we were chasing an impossible goal.”
What that means for the 225-member Canadian contingent of athletes remains to be seen. Canadian officials told the athletes Wednesday that their trips are on hold – the women’s field hockey team and archers were the first scheduled to leave but were told their trips will be delayed a few days.
And some athletes have decided not to go at all. Two archers – former world champion Dietmar Trillus of King City, Ont., and Kevin Tataryn of Stonewall, Man. – withdrew from the event, citing concerns about health and safety.
“They weren’t really confident with the health and safety issues,” Canadian archery coach Richard Towler said Wednesday. “We’re sorry to lose them, but it’s a personal decision.”
Others, like Canadian shot putter Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, B.C., considered a gold-medal chance at the Games, plan to attend, but only on a fly-in, fly-out basis, spending as little time as possible in New Delhi.
Commonwealth Games organizers have faced a slew of troubles recently, including heavy rains, a citywide outbreak of dengue fever, fears over security after the shooting of two tourists near one of the city’s top attractions, and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at the main stadium, injuring 27 construction workers, five critically.
And with barely a week to go before the Games begin, frantic last-minute preparations are verging on chaos, international sports officials are furious and the Games have become an international embarrassment that could threaten plans for major sporting events in other developing nations.
New Delhi, chosen over Hamilton, Ont. as host, has had seven years to prepare, though very little was done until 2008. Armies of workers – often rural villagers making just a few dollars a day – have been deployed across the city in recent weeks to get it ready.
The Games remain deeply important to India’s national pride, making it highly unlikely the government will call them off.
Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, in New York for the UN General Assembly, told the BBC that the games will be “one of the most successful that the Commonwealth has undertaken.” He blamed “the prolonged monsoon” for the problems.
In the case of the athletes’ village, reports earlier this week said 18 of 34 residence buildings in the athlete compound were not complete. There were dogs prowling unlocked rooms and feces around the residence site.
Dr. Andrew Pipe, president of the Commonwealth Games Canada, said in a telephone interview from Uruguay that there has been disappointment with the Indian government’s “indifference” in the face of Commonwealth nations’ criticism of slow construction.
While Dr. Pipe didn’t raise the idea of not going to the Games, he said that Canadian team officials were meeting three times a day by phone to see what progress could be made toward getting the Games to happen on time.
“We know that at least seven suites are ready to take [Canadian] athletes – three to five rooms each with two athletes per room,” he said, making for a maximum yesterday of 70 of Canada’s 225 athletes.
“We’ve had people under supervision of our staff doing plumbing and electricity. With an alternative travel schedule, we’re on course to meet our arrival objectives.”
Dr. Pipe said construction progress in the last 48 hours plus better security had been reassuring, but added he could not find “any rational reason why we’re under this pressure at the last minute.”
He said members of the Commonwealth Games Federation had been “very vocal and pointed in making comments a year ago,” regarding the slow pace of construction.
“It was unacceptable, and we were not alone in pointing that out,” Dr. Pipe said. “It’s going to be an adventure. The overwhelming majority of athletes just put their heads down and concentrate on their sport. They’ve been to wacko places before.”
Scott Stevenson, director of sport for Commonwealth Games Canada said “the bottom line is that the accommodations in the athletes village simply aren’t ready... it’s going to take more time.”
With reports from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
