No face masks, no morning spitting, and the freedom to move around as you want.
The Swedish handball ladies have landed in Paris and are only missing one thing from the Tokyo Olympics.
The beds.
Security in Paris is rigorous. The city center is largely closed off ahead of the expected spectacular Olympic opening ceremony along the Seine River on Friday. On the streets, one blue-light flashing police car after another zooms by, seemingly mostly to mark their presence.
Yet, the Swedish handball ladies, who are starting their Olympic campaign against Norway on Thursday evening, feel a sense of freedom.
The difference from Tokyo three years ago is enormous, the players note when they meet the media on Tuesday, as the first blue-and-yellow Olympic athletes, at Sweden Arena, which serves as a gathering place for the Swedish team, sponsors, media, and guests in Paris.
It was so extremely extreme back then, and the focus was on so much more than just sports. It was face masks and gloves, and everything was locked down, and you had to spit in a cup every morning to check if you had COVID. It was terrible, says midfielder Linn Blohm.
Poor Sleep
The pandemic games in Japan were a trial in many ways. An Olympics without an audience was a strange experience, and the coronavirus bubble also presented challenges for athletes who wanted, but couldn't, have their families on site.
Almost everything is better now. Until you ask the players about the beds in the Olympic Village.
They're... hard, says Jamina Roberts about the sleeping surfaces, where the frames are made of cardboard.
Too hard, it turned out.
On Tuesday, the handball team sent a shopping patrol to Ikea in the French capital to procure new mattresses.
The problem isn't that it's a cardboard bed, that's totally fine, it's just a frame. But the mattress is hard. It's also brand new, so it takes a while to soften up. But we felt we couldn't wait for that, we need to sleep well from the start, says Jamina Roberts.
No Interest for Axnér
It may sound like a trifle. But the importance of a good night's sleep should not be underestimated, says Sweden's national team coach Tomas Axnér.
Recovery is extremely important, and you only get it through food and sleep. You can sit on exercise bikes and take ice baths, but if you neglect sleep and nutrition, that's where 90 percent of recovery lies, says Axnér.
He himself is not interested in a new mattress, however.
No, absolutely not. If they had thrown one at me, I might have put it on, but I sleep like a prince in this bed. I prefer a hard bed.
Group A: Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea.
Group B: Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, France, Brazil, Angola.
The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals.
Sweden's matches (all in Paris):
July 25: Norway (9:00 PM).
July 28: Germany (2:00 PM).
July 30: Denmark (9:00 PM).
August 1: South Korea (11:00 AM).
August 3: Slovenia (4:00 PM).
Quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches will be played in Lille on August 6, 8, and 10, respectively.
