Australian Football, Rugby Olympians Partied Too Hard

Australia Olympic Committee fielding complaints about rowdy flight, damaged rooms
By Liz MacGahan,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2021 3:14 PM CDT
Australian Football, Rugby Olympians Partied Too Hard
Australia's Nick Malouf charges through South Africa's Ronald Brown, in their men's rugby sevens 5-8 placing match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, July 28 in Tokyo.   (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Imagine the party that would ensue if the Australian Olympic soccer and rugby teams spent 10 hours locked in a room together. Now imagine that room is actually an airplane from Tokyo to Sydney and you’re just trying to get some sleep. Australian Olympians were already in hot water over the state of some of their Olympic village rooms: A hole in the wall of one room was dismissed as a minor mistake, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The athletes who caused that damage apologized and won’t be punished.

Life-sized mascots of a kangaroo and an emu that disappeared from the quarters were returned, too, People reports. But the Australian Olympic Committee is looking into what went down on a Thursday Japan Airlines flight that allegedly included singing, drinking, vomiting, at least one toilet made unusable, and nowhere near enough masks, the Daily Beast reports. Passenger complaints made it to the ears of the Rugby Australia and Football Australia organizations, which are investigating. The Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll called the alleged behavior "unacceptable." Neither team medaled in Tokyo. (More 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X