Take it from Indian national coach Vladimir Chertkov: It is as bad as it looks at the Commonwealth Games.
Chertkov, who came to India via Russia and Chicago to turn a large nation into a formidable gymnastics force, became the first member of an Indian delegation to complain about conditions in the Athletes Village at the Games in New Delhi, India.
The Commonwealth are scheduled to begin Oct. 3, but the athletics that is to happen there has so far been overshadowed so far by organizational problems that have turned the Games into a public relations disaster.
Even before Chertkov spoke out, the damage had already been done. Literally -- Chertkov confirmed what the BBC and Australian publications have been reporting from New Delhi: the Athletes Village is unsanitary and unfit for habitation.
"I was like shocked," Chertkov told The Hindustani Times of the rooms he and the team were given. "The floor was so dirty. I go on and see empty water bottles, loose pins and screws, remains of a scratched wall all over the floor.”
Chertkov also complained earlier this summer that Indian gymnasts were having to train on sub-standard equipment, which was hindering their preparation for the Games. In the village, he said the electricity does not work, the toilets do not flush and there was no hot water.
Several top teams, including Great Britain, South Africa and New Zealand, delayed their departures to India after reports of squalid conditions in the Athletes Village drew Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell to Delhi for an emergency meeting with top officials.
Now, cleaning and construction crews are racing against the clock to repair not only the athletes' quarters but a false roof inside the weightlifting complex that collapsed Thursday and a footbridge near the main stadium that collapsed earlier this week, injuring 27 workers.
Delhi is said to have spent more than $6 billion on the Games, making the 2010 edition the most expensive ever, more than five times as costly as the 2006 Commonwealths in Melbourne, Australia.
Photo gallery: A slideshow of images from Commonwealth Games venues in New Delhi can be found to the left of this article.
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