Eugene. Mundo Duplantis chose to stay in a hotel for the World Cup and he’s doing it right.
And captain Kagsa Bergqvist understood that perfectly during his first press conference here in Eugene.
Previously, divas costumes could have been looked at to allow the big sponsor to offer hotel rooms and especially if your name was Patrick Sjoberg.
But after seeing the Swedish accommodation, I will quickly book a hotel for Daniel Ståhl as well.
Swedish golden hops don’t grow on trees, not even here in the lumbering state of Oregon, which still produces the most construction timber of all states in the United States.
I’ve been there for so long that I remember when stars like Carl Lewis with an entire entourage in fancy black limousines came to the championship and entered the upper suite of a luxury hotel.
Or Usain Bolt who still loves the team community especially during the Olympics.
Mundo does the same and slept with everyone else on cardboard beds at the Olympic facility in Tokyo.
But if we talk about what divas looks like across all the stars you’ve met, Mondo would probably end up at the bottom of that list.
This is not his choice.
It’s his big sponsor, Puma, who wants to keep his golden leaps and his multi-million dollar investment away from the coronavirus infection that’s starting to spread like a rug around the world in the 51st variant.
This is totally understandable.
The only threat to Mundo
The only threat to Mundo is that he will injure himself or test positive for Covid or some other illness.
What really hit and cracked American Sam Kendricks during the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The American was allowed to sit in isolation and watch the pole vault final, without showing any symptoms of infection.
It never became the same as a pillar thunderbolt after that.
So treating some stars differently here at Eugene is normal.
But luxury?
forget that.
Here in tiny Eugene, the smallest city to ever host the World Cup, there aren’t even any luxury hotels.
Instead, it’s the plate of all-American motels that dominate this city’s accommodations, but they still provide needed privacy, access to a private bathroom and reduced risk of infection.
It seems like a matter of course for the biggest stars.
And anyone looking for some skyscraper that will head into downtown America that most people imagine in this country should look in vain for this city.
This is a typical small American town, which just so happened to have fed one of the world’s largest companies in the footwear industry that will forever have its roots in athletics.
This is the only reason the World Cup ends here.
Not a dream of existence
But it’s not Nike that has spent billions, the modernization and modernization of the classic athletics arena cost Hayward Field, but private donations from the late Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife Jenny.
So while the plaza itself towers like a fancy building, the immediate surroundings are as boring as an ordinary American university.
And here we are not talking about Harvard, Princeton, or any of the other eight universities that are part of the exclusive Ivy League.
Here there are low brick buildings without any great charm, without air conditioning and with small rooms and communal toilets and showers in the corridor.
This is where Swedes and most others live when a new wave of coronavirus hit the world that no one expected.
And after two consecutive tournaments with covid 19 as a constant companion, with oral protection requirements and constant covid testing, it seems tiring for all participants. In the Tokyo Olympics, it was mandatory every third day, and in Beijing it was a daily morning ritual that began with a test strip in the throat of a character that looked like it had been taken from Star Trek.
Big, flashy slams aren’t the dream life they sometimes seem, even if I’m not one to complain.
What are we up to now? Covid 24?
Now I was looking forward to a championship without constant auditions.
Yes, there was not even a requirement to use mouthguards here at Eugene.
But with a virus that seems to have nine lives and new ways to mutate, it’s also here in time for the start of the World Cup. What are we up to now? Covid 24?
On Wednesday, strong new recommendations from local authorities to wear a mouthguard in all indoor environments came just two days before the World Cup kicks off.
I think it will be a requirement before you start your first starting shot.
And if they gain a foothold, they have turned active dwellings into immaculate foci, now that everyone is forced to live close to each other and share toilets and showers.
Therefore, I would like to see the Federation do its best to fix a separate accommodation also for Sweden’s other great golden leap Daniel Stoll.
Not because I personally think he wants to, but not because I’m taking a risk.
It could be worth its weight in gold.
