The Olympic village, where athletes from all around the world stay during competition, is a dangerous place in Rio de Janeiro this time around. The water is unsanitary, athletes have already been robbed of their possessions and money, and Australian big man Andrew Bogut was roasting the accommodations and the IOC shortly after arriving in Brazil. So how are high profile athletes like the USA Basketball teams going to deal with something like this?
They're not. Neither the men's nor women's teams for USA Basketball will be staying in the Olympic village. That hasn't happened since 1988 before the NBA and Team USA started allowing professional players to participate in the games. Instead, they will stay aboard a luxury cruise liner with over 200 rooms while they participate in the 2016 Olympics. Via NPR:
In a move that could be interpreted as indulgent or prescient -- or both -- the U.S. men's basketball team at the Rio Olympics will stay aboard a luxury cruise ship rather than the spartan facilities at the Athletes' Village.
It appears the U.S. women will also be living aboard the Silver Cloud, according to media reports.
Maybe this seems unfair and on some level it probably is. But the ship was supposedly retained by the company Cisqo, one of the sponsors of USA Basketball. It gives the U.S. an advantage of comfort while in Rio, but it also increases their safety as long as pirates or people trying to steal Liam Neeson's daughter don't find their way to Rio.
In the meantime, it won't keep the U.S. basketball players from supporting the other American athletes during events and hanging out in the Olympic village. They've still done that during every Olympics while staying away from the village. They're just going to make sure the high profile athletes have the ability to play shuffleboard and do some karaoke -- or whatever you do on cruise ships -- during their down time.
