Before they arrive in Rio, every US athlete is shown a video produced by the US Olympic Committee. A fictitious American athlete lands in Rio only to be frustrated that the bus is either late or slow, and sends an angry tweet that instantly goes viral. His social media feeds explode with retorts. He is a pariah before he’s off his first bus, hated by millions of people around the world. His Olympics are ruined.
All because of a snarky tweet about a slow bus.
The USOC is asking their athletes to refrain from complaining about Rio, begging them to hold back from commenting on unfinished dormitories, polluted water or shoddy facilities. The organization has watched as other countries have denounced the conditions of their housing, unsanitary performance venues and long waits for buses and wants to be sure that no one from the US does the same.
“That’s not laundry that needs to be aired publicly,” one USOC official said this week.
The video is a part of a campaign they devised to deliver this message. The athletes have also been given presentations on the proper way to behave at an Olympics, including social media tips and one-on-one meetings with former Olympic stars. US officials say these are all part of the typical preparation they give athletes before any Olympics, but they are also being extra vigilant in Rio.
The US delegation are aware that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, any attack on Brazil’s lack of preparedness for the Games will be perceived as arrogance. And while no one from the USOC will reference the current presidential election or Donald Trump, they seem determined to keep their team from being one more thing the rest of the world dislikes about the US. The last thing the USOC wants is for its athletes to be booed in front of a worldwide audience at Friday’s opening ceremony.
The US is also deep in a bid for Los Angeles to host the 2024 Games. While complaints about the conditions in Rio probably won’t damage that bid, they won’t help either – the IOC makes its decision on the 2024 host city in September 2017.
American officials and former athletes have visited different teams in recent weeks to talk to athletes about how they should act in Rio, in addition to other training. Swimmers, for instance, were instructed the day after trials ended in Omaha, Nebraska, last month; golfers were met at the PGA Championship in Baltusrol. A group of USOC officials even went to the men’s basketball practices in Las Vegas to talk to the NBA players who will be playing. Their key message was the same: hold off on complaining.
“You don’t want to insult the host country,” US men’s volleyball coach John Speraw said this week.
Rower Megan Kalmoe’s recent essay in the Guardian, “I will row through shit for you, America”, is perhaps an extreme example of the optimism USOC officials want their athletes to project. They would rather no one mention pollution in the water at all. And while they did not comment on the picture women’s soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo posted of herself on Twitter wearing what looks like a beekeeper’s mask while clutching insect repellant, her rhetoric has changed so dramatically in recent days that it is believed US officials urged her to stop before the team left for the Olympics.
Conditions were not perfect for the first US athletes who arrived in Rio last week. The American dormitories were also unfinished, but the USOC asked athletes and coaches to remain silent about the rooms, instructing them to provide a list of things that needed to be fixed. They then worked quietly to be sure the accommodation was completed. Several Brazilian news outlets reported that the US actually hired their own contractors to finish the work, though US officials will not confirm this. By the end of last week, the US already had 50 athletes living in the dorms.
“You would think the US being No1 on the medal [table means] they would complain the most but they’re the ones not complaining at all,” US women’s rugby sevens coach Richie Walker said this week, before adding that USOC representatives had prepared his team to expect issues in Brazil and asked them to remain publicly quiet about anything that wasn’t right.
“They told us to let them take care of it,” he said.
While the USOC is making a heavy push with US athletes at this Olympics, they have been instructing their Olympians on how to behave for eight years now. After the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin they established what they call the Team USA Ambassador Program. The purpose, officials say, is to help American athletes avoid distractions that can adversely affect their performance. Given that it was set up shortly after skier Bode Miller’s infamous flameout in Turin after several long nights out in local bars, it doesn’t take much imagination to see that the program was developed to prevent another such disaster.
Alan Ashley, the US’s chef de mission for the Rio Games, runs the Ambassador Program now, and each athlete goes through several hours of training. At first the sessions were a a lecture of dos and don’ts, but they have evolved into mix of talks from former Olympians such as swimmer Summer Sanders and speed skater Dan Jansen, to interactive presentations of how not to offend while competing. For instance, there is a tutorial on the correct way to hold the American flag when winning a medal. The proper form is to clutch the flag over your head with the stars on the left and stripes on the right. Improper form is wrapping it around your body like a cape, as many celebrating athletes do.
“It’s all really good information,” Ashley told the Guardian this week. “What happens is if someone does it the wrong way, people will attack what they have done.”
So far, as the US athletes who have arrived in Rio have been enthusiastic about the city. Most received their behavior tutorials before the Games at a one-day orientation held in downtown Houston. In addition to being measured for their opening ceremony uniform and other equipment from the USOC’s corporate sponsors, they got their final lessons on what to say and how not to complain while in Rio.
US officials can only hope they have listened.
