In Pictures: 100m backstroke Gold medalist Thomas Ceccon sleeps on ground in a park after criticizing living conditions in the Olympic Village
Days after taking a jab at the living conditions in the Olympic Village, Thomas Ceccon was seen sleeping in a park. So far, Ceccon has secured two medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Outside the pool, the Italian swimmer slammed the mediocre living conditions in the Olympic Village, mentioning the lack of air conditioning and poor food quality.
“In the Village, there is no air conditioning, it’s hot, the food is bad," he said. "Many athletes move because of this … it is not an alibi, it is the pure chronicle of what perhaps not everyone knows."
A few days after he criticized the living conditions, the 6'6" swimmer slept on the ground by a bench in a park in the French capital.
Ceccon clinched a gold medal in the men's 100m backstroke after clocking a stunning time of 52.00 seconds. To secure his first Olympic gold medal, he surpassed China's Jiayu Xu and America's Ryan Murphy, who posted 52.32 and 52.39 seconds, respectively.
Ceccon set the world record by posting a time of 51.60 seconds at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
Thomas Ceccon secures third Olympic medal in the team event at the Paris Games
Thomas Ceccon secured his third Olympic team medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Italian team, including Alessandro Miressi, Paolo Conte Bonin, and Manuel Frigo, clocked a decent time of 3:10.70 to secure third place in the men's 4×100m freestyle relay, following the American and Australian squads that registered 3:09.28 and 3:10.35, respectively.
Three years ago, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he helped his team cruise to second place on the podium in the 4x100m freestyle event. The 23-year-old, along with the team of Miressi, Lorenzo Zazzeri, and Frigo, stood behind the USA led by Caeleb Dressel.
While the American team recorded 3:08.97, the Italian squad registered a national record 3:10.11. Ceccon also contributed to the team's bronze medal-winning moment in the men's 4x100m medley relay.