Australian Olympic officials criticise athletes

TOKYO: The drunken antics of Australian Olympians who vomited and disrupted passengers on their flight home from Tokyo had shamed the entire team, a top official said Wednesday.

As New Zealand athletes faced allegations of similar loutish behaviour on their returning flight, Australia’s Olympic chef de mission labelled the conduct of his team members “completely unacceptable”.

“I’m pretty upset about this because a few people are damaging the reputation of a very strong unit, a unit that is representing us over here very proudly,” Ian Chesterman said.

Chesterman confirmed Japan Airlines wrote to the Australian Olympic Committee complaining about the behaviour of athletes on a flight that arrived in Sydney on Friday.

“JAL advised that team members had drunk excessively, failed to respond to requests of cabin crew and caused disruption to other passengers,” he said. “This behaviour is clearly unacceptable and does not meet the standards set be this team.”