Australia’s Olympic chief is yet to unmask the drunk Australian athletes facing sanction for their rowdy return flight from the Tokyo Games.
Australia’s rugby sevens and soccer players were the ringleaders in the unruly flight which left Tokyo last Thursday night, arriving in Sydney the following morning.
Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll says Australians from nine sports were on the flight, with rugby and soccer shouldering the blame.
“It was bad behaviour,” Carroll told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
“Drinking in the aisles, (not) following instructions.
“Athletes were saying they were drinking and that’s why they weren’t wearing their mask.
“That’s not good enough, particularly keeping people up late at night.”
Carroll said the AOC expected better from the athletes concerned.
“There were other Australians returning on that flight … it’s not the standard the Australian Olympic Committee expects and not the standard the sports expect too,” he said.
“There were nine sports involved, so I called the chief executives in on Sunday morning, gave them a briefing, asked them to investigate their other athletes and officials.
“The sports came back to me over the course of Sunday and Monday.
“I know what happened, but I don’t know who.
“That’s why I asked the sports themselves, the CEOs, who are very upset about it as you would expect and very displeased with their athletes.”
Rugby Australia and Football Australia’s respective chief executives, Andy Marinos and James Johnson, had taken responsibility for the behaviour of their athletes, Carroll said, without detailing any sanction.
The flight furore comes as some Australian rooms at the athletes village were left in unacceptable condition, including one with a hole in a wall.
“There was some damage in the rooms and some were left messy,” Australia’s chef de mission Ian Chesrterman said on Tuesday.
“The rooms were not trashed in any way.
“It’s a matter of a small number of people making a mistake and they’re going to have to live with that.
“I’ve had expressions of great remorse from a number of athletes who were involved in these incidents.
“They feel disappointed they have contributed to this conversation about behavioural matters in a team that has been exceptional on and off the field.”
AAP
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