Japan's Asian Games hit by poor planning as delegations foot their own bills

Asia's biggest sporting festival is at risk of going down as the worst in its history, as Japan's disorganized preparations and management draw mounting criticism. Concerns over athlete performance have been compounded by reports that delegations are being forced to cover costs the host is expected to provide, pushing the backlash to new heights.

Warning signs had already emerged before the Games opened. The decision to forgo an athletes' village in favor of container lodgings and a large passenger ship was only the tip of the iceberg. Persistent problems with transportation and meals have now spilled over into a shortage of laundry facilities, raising fears that athlete performance will suffer.

Players on Taiwan's baseball team reportedly stayed up through the night hand-washing their uniforms because the coin-operated washing machines at their hotel were too few to meet demand. Baseball players routinely dive and roll on grass and dirt, soiling their uniforms repeatedly during games — that they would lose sleep over laundry is a situation unimaginable at any previous international competition.

South Korea's delegation, along with those of several other countries, paid out of pocket to hire private laundry services. The host is expected to provide full, free logistical support from start to finish, but that basic expectation has been abandoned at these Games.

"This is the only Summer Asian Games since the 1980s to be held without an athletes' village," a sports industry official said Thursday. "About 20 days before the opening, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games organizing committee was telling even Japan's own Olympic committee to find additional accommodation because there was none — so you can imagine how much worse it was for every other country."

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has been scrambling to manage a stream of complaints from the delegation while working within its budget to handle one unexpected problem after another. Individual member sports federations are also reported to have spent large sums of their own money on finding accommodation, arranging meals, securing training venues and contracting laundry services.

Delegations from other countries are in the same boat.

The organizing committee moved to cut operating costs after the Games' budget ballooned by 370 billion yen ($2.35 billion), or about 3.2 trillion won, triggering a situation in which each country has been left to make up the shortfall on its own.

Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and a former International Olympic Committee member, sharply criticized the host Thursday, telling Korean media that the Games' management deserved an "F" grade. "If issues that interfere with athletes' performance keep arising, this is a serious failure of competence," he said.