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Games Village a home from home

Inside the Olympic Village

The British sporting public are not the only ones glued to the BBC's coverage of London 2012.Inside Team Bermuda's townhouse, deep in the heart of the sprawling Olympic Village, Roy-Allan Burch sits on a sofa in a spacious, minimalist modern living room watching the three-day eventing on a flat screen television.In the neighbouring apartment, triathlete Flora Duffy and her coach Neil de Ste Criox do the same.Large colourful posters of picturesque Bermuda, including one of Horseshoe Bay, adorn the walls of virtually every room thanks to the team's Chef de Mission Stan Douglas.Name tags have been stuck on each bedroom door, with equestrian Jill Terceira and Flora Duffy sharing one room, long jumper Tyrone Smith and track and field coach Brian Wellman in another.To the immediate right of Bermuda's block is the home of Italy's Olympic family for the duration of the Games, while the star-studded USA team are housed directly opposite.Flags of each nation proudly fly from balconies and underneath windows of almost every apartment in the £1.1 billion complex, which will be converted into affordable homes after the Games.Bermuda's living space doesn't have a balcony, or a lift as do some apartments, although a huge flag of the nation has been fixed to the wall above the sofa where Duffy and de Ste Croix sit.One could be fooled into thinking that there's nothing particularly remarkable about Bermuda's townhouse, or the indeed Village, until you take a small stroll outside the front gate and spot Puma tracksuit-clad, headphone-wearing Usain Bolt holding court with a group of his Jamaica team-mates.The bustling Village swarms with athletes from every corner of the globe, all wearing their country's colours, all trying to stay relaxed ready for when they will have to take the short bus ride to the Olympic Park where most will compete.Every evening the Village's entertainment centre, the Globe, fills with athletes who listen to live music or play pool on one of the numerous tables.But it's mid-afternoon and the Globe, which resembles a US-style bar with bright neon lights but no alcohol, is near empty apart from a male Latvian competitor playing FIFA on a PlayStation and a handful of South Korean athletes smiling as they shoot pool.Everything has been catered for in the Village; it's a place of free food, free massages, free haircuts, free dental treatment (something de Ste Croix has already taken advantage of after losing a filling) and even free condoms (the Village apparently turns into a party zone at the end of the Games).There's also a vast hanger-like canteen which seats 5,000 and feeds the 11,000 athletes competing London, with multiple food stations serving meals sure to appease just about every palate on earth.Most evenings famous names such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James from USA's basketball team come here to refuel, although it appears even Olympians are not immune to getting a little star-struck.“All of the more recognisable athletes come and eat here, such as Usain Bolt and the Williams sisters,” said Douglas, Bermuda's Chef de Mission.“At a recent Chef de Mission's meeting it was requested that we all speak to our athletes to ensure these guys can at least come in and eat. Let's be honest, if they continue to get too much attention they can afford to stay at a hotel.“I think people have started to adhere to that. The other night we had the whole USA men's basketball team walk in and while people did pay attention to them, they did allow them to enjoy their food.”Douglas, who has his own office in the Village, can barely walk 20 yards without stopping to exchange pleasantries with an Olympic volunteer or fellow official.It seems that while Bermuda's presence in the Village is small, they certainly have not gone unnoticed.