International Olympic Committee President, Kirsty Coventry, right, greets members of the media during a visit to the press centre at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. AP/PTI(AP09_19_2026_000008B)The buildup to the 2026 Asian Games was marred by organisational troubles, with players and coaches’ accomodation being thrown into disarray. However, the accomodations have got a nod of approval from International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry.The complaints have ranged from athletes and coaches having to wait extraordinarily long hours to get a room to the living quarters being cramped and having undersized beds. However, Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion, said that the conditions were better than many athletes’ villages that she has stayed in. Japanese organisers scrapped initial plans for a dedicated Athletes’ Village in an effort to control costs, opting instead to house 17,000 athletes and officials across hotels, shipping-container-style huts and a cruise ship.“The cabins are quiet, they’re ?very cool. The air conditioning is working well. The flooring and the walls are beautiful,” Coventry told reporters after inspecting the accomodation at Garden Pier. “It’s better than some of the (athletes’) villages I’ve ever stayed in. So I think to be very fair to Japan and to the organising committee, I was really impressed.“I’d only been reading everything that had been said, and I was expecting something completely different to when I walked in. And I hope that you guys will get to experience the same thing.”Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion, said this was not the first time athletes had been housed ?in such modular setups even though these were slightly smaller than the cabins used in Milano Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year.“We had cabins in 2000, my very first (Olympic) Games in Australia. It’s not a new concept. I’m not ?necessarily concerned about the look.”The overarching priority remained ensuring that competitors enjoyed a positive overall experience, the Zimbabwean added.Story continues below this ad“I think what athletes expect from us is that there needs to be a minimum level of standards, right And we’re going to try and work with everybody to do that.”