Team Canada's residential units in the Cortina d'Ampezzo athletes village are rustic but a little piece of home.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Before checking into his trailer at the Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympic athletes village, Canadian curler Marc Kennedy couldn’t help but picture Rocky Balboa’s remote Siberian cabin in Rocky IV.
The accommodations, which were constructed quite late, looked rather rustic in photos posted to social media.
But when he and his Canadian teammates moved in this week, they were pleasantly surprised with the comfort of the woodsy glamping-like living conditions.
“I think it’s better than advertised, they did a great job with it,” Kennedy said. “Feels like a nice trailer. … The bathrooms are big, the showers are big, the water’s hot and the beds are fine.”
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Nestled among mountains and towering pine trees, the pop-up village can house up to 1,400 international team members. The small modular homes stand in dozens of tight rows, and outdoor paths connect to the dining hall and social spaces.
Now nestled in the Dolomites, the cabins will be moved to campsites across Italy after the Games are over.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Unique from any past Olympic village, it sits on a UNESCO Heritage World Site: the Dolomites. The cabins will be moved to campsites across Italy after the competition.
The athletes staying here – including 42 Canadian Olympians – are competing at the three sports (sliding, women’s alpine skiing and curling) taking place in the Cortina cluster, a short bus ride away.
Each trailer has two beds, a bathroom, storage and bedside tables. Canada’s curling coaches arrived early and added some items to make the rooms more comfortable, including high-end pillows and Canadian-themed bedding.
“I think it just gives them that feeling of home and that someone’s caring about them,” said Paul Webster, the men’s team coach. “Honestly, it looks like a 10-year-old boy’s room, but the boys are, like, ‘This is amazing.’”
The cluster’s Canadian competitors are all housed in one area of the village, which has been turned into a patriotic little neighbourhood. Canadian flags hang from trailers. A moose statue stands outside. A handful of athletes got together and built a snow fort with a maple leaf on it.
“I thought it would be like sleeping bags and not-heated rooms – all these things that go along with camping – but I was wrong and it’s put together nice,” said Canadian bobsledder Shaq Murray-Lawrence. “I don’t think there’s any major complaints. The space is okay. There’s no cardboard beds.”
No stranger to being on the road for months at a time, Murray-Lawrence brought his usual comforts: blankets, pillows, scented candles, LED lights and a karaoke microphone. He spends his downtime singing with fellow athletes, no matter what country they represent.
The village’s food hasn’t lived up to the expectations he had for Italy, but the scenery is jaw-dropping, he says.
“I think we’ve got the best view out of everybody in Italy right now. You come out of your trailer and you’re surrounded by these ungodly sized mountains. No matter what kind of phone you have, you cannot capture what your eyes are seeing with these mountains.”
The scenery makes up for any shortcomings, said Canadian bobsledder Shaq Murray-Lawrence.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Since these Olympics are spread out across various clusters in Northern Italy – in Milan, Bormio, Livigno, Predazzo, Anterselva and Cortina – the villages are smaller than at most Games, which tend to focus on one spot.
“I think the Cortina village has a really awesome little vibe,” said Canadian luge athlete Embyr-Lee Susko. “It’s not too big, but there’s enough people that the pin trading is good.”
A moose is just one way Team Canada is making the village feel like home.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
The Canadian Olympic Committee set up a well-stocked Team Canada lounge on the athletes village property, complete with snacks from home – everything from cookies to protein shakes – and a TV airing CBC coverage of the Games. There’s even a massage room with therapists, plus massage guns and high-tech air compression recovery leggings that athletes can use to refresh their legs.
The lugers also received from some special surprises from back home.
“We got a little shoebox from our parents when we arrived to the village,” Susko said. “It was just on our bed, and it had some notes and some snacks.”
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