Japan Olympic chief says 'lot more' athletes at Games than expected

Beds and household goods are prepared inside wooden container-style huts built to house athletes at Athletes Plaza of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, central Japan, on Sep 27, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Irene Wang)

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NAGOYA: Japan's Olympic chief admitted on Saturday (Oct 3) that "a lot more" athletes and officials came to the Asian Games than the host nation had expected, leading to a shortage of beds.

Several teams said they turned up in Aichi-Nagoya only to find there were not enough rooms for everyone.

Local organisers said on the eve of the Games, which end on Sunday, that they were expecting about 15,000 athletes and officials.

The Olympic Council of Asia at the same time put the figure at more than 17,000.

Asked by AFP if organisers ever really knew how many participants there were, Japanese Olympic Committee president Seiko Hashimoto said: "We had more than we expected.

"It's really difficult to accommodate a lot more people and that may have caused some troubles to the athletes."

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