National teams deal with lack of toilets on Paris opening ceremony barges

A possible lack of toilets on the barges used for carrying athletes during Friday’s Paris Olympics opening ceremony has thrown national teams an unexpected curve ball.

The opening ceremony will occur on the River Seine, with athletes on barges floating past hundreds of thousands of spectators. It will be one of the most anticipated events of these games. Some of those vessels, though, will not have toilets.

“Being one of the larger delegations, we haven’t yet had confirmation whether we will have a boat with a toilet but we do hope so,” Australia’s Chef de Mission Anna Meares told a press conference on Saturday.

“But preparations in the case that we don’t have a toilet on the boat are underway, and making sure that we have access to facilities both before and on the departure of the boat.”

Athletes, however, will be pleased to hear that the expected time on the water for the opening ceremony will be only around 45 minutes. “There will be toilets at the boarding and departure of the boat,” Meares said. “So the boat, the time of the sail is about 40 to 45 minutes.” The Games will run until Aug 11.

(With Reuters inputs)