PARIS, FRANCE
The Paris Olympics just-so-happens to coincide with Pioneer Days at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach and, so, to give Olympians that authentic Mennonite experience, all athletes are expected to sleep in a 19th-century wooden bench-bed.
“We can fit about 10 of those per sod hut,” said Pierre Martin, director of the Olympic Village. “I’m sure they’ll all wake up fresh and ready to throw a shot-put or something.”
The accommodations were apparently chosen to commemorate all the Mennonites competing in the Olympics this year from Canada’s Rylan Wiens and Eric Loeppky to Japan’s Kai Toews and Paraguay’s Xenia Hiebert.
“I’m not sure how eager the athletes are to fill up on roll kuchen and rabus, but I’m sure they’ll adapt,” said Martin. “Besides it’s not like we’re making them attach suspenders to their swimsuits or something.”
Not everyone is a fan of the Olympic Village’s new Mennonite-style accommodations, with some feeling they deserve a bit better.
“It wouldn’t be so bad except that Oma Wiebe comes by every night at 8 pm and makes us shut the lights off and get to sleep,” said one athlete. “It’s a little much.”
So far, however, it seems the athletes have excelled in their new accommodations, with record-setting performances, although this might also be due to the fact that Dutch Blitz and knipsbrat were added to the games this year.