"Taking 5 Days to Retrieve Laundry... Doing It Myself" Japan Olympic Village Faces Laundry Controversy Again

The laundry room inside the athletes' village posted on SNS by Igor Kliuka of the Russian volleyball national team / Photo by Igor Kliuka Instagram

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Complaints are emerging that it takes too long to retrieve laundry at the Tokyo Olympic Village.

On the 27th, according to the Washington Post (WP) and others, Cody Melphy, a player on the U.S. rugby team, pointed out that it takes a long time to get laundry back. He posted a video showing himself putting clothes in a bathtub and washing them by stomping with his feet, saying, "What if you lose your laundry? Then you do it yourself." Melphy expressed dissatisfaction, saying, "Some laundry takes up to five days to be retrieved."

Melphy was not the only one complaining about the laundry facilities at the Olympic Village.

Josh Bugarski of the British rowing team stated on his social media, "The biggest concern right now at the Olympic Village is that the laundry waiting lines are too long."

Igor Kliuka of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) volleyball team also voiced his dissatisfaction on his social media. He posted a photo showing many athletes lined up in front of the laundry to pick up their clothes, noting that he had been waiting for over an hour. He said, "The line to get clothes back. There are only three laundries in 16 buildings," and revealed the long lines of athletes waiting in front of the laundry, saying, "Athletes wait in line for hours to get their laundry back."

The laundry at the Olympic Village operates by scanning a registered barcode when dropping off clothes, after which Tokyo Olympic organizing committee staff enter the warehouse to find and deliver the laundry tagged with the matching barcode. However, there are concerns that laundry is piled up like a mountain in the warehouse, causing significant delays in verifying barcode tags.

Netizens who heard the news responded negatively, saying things like, "Imagine the world's top athletes doing laundry and sleeping on cardboard," "It seems there is a shortage of staff in the Olympic Village," "The weather is humid, so what will happen to the athletes' condition if they wear clothes that are not properly dried?" and "They must have spent billions of dollars on the Olympic Village, but can't even do laundry properly?"