Paris Olympics: Ariarne Titmus slams conditions in the Paris Olympic village - forcing Australia's head swimming coach to hit back

Australia's queen of the pool Ariarne Titmus has unleashed on the 'ridiculous' conditions the Olympic Village, blaming the conditions for not breaking her own world record in 'the race of the century', creating a splash with team management.

The triple gold medalist is among a host of current and present Aussie athletes who have weighed in on the 'eco friendly' accommodation arrangements in Paris, which include polythene mattresses and beds made from cardboard.

Others have complained about the food options. 

Titmus didn't hold back when asked if she was disappointed not to break her world record when she claimed back-to-back gold medals in the 400m freestyle on Saturday night, despite smashing the Olympic record. 

'It probably wasn't the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,' she admitted in an interview on Sunday.

'It's definitely not made for high performance, so it's about who can really keep it together in the mind.'

Her comments sparked an angry response from Australian Swimming head coach. Rohan Taylor.

He has since reminded the swimmers that they they should not let anything, distract them from their performance, including conditions in the Olympic Village.

'The Olympics has always been a challenge. Every Olympics I've been a part of, every Olympic Games that you see, is a test of athletes' ability to come here, compete and perform when it matters,' he said.

'It's about how you manage yourself and whatever environments are presented, whatever the beds are, whatever the food is, everybody deals with it.'

'The Olympics has always been this way and that's the way it is. And that's and that's the beauty of it.'

Taylor added the Australian Olympic Committee has gone the extra mile for the athletes, whether it's arranging private transport, providing a barista to make coffee, organising extra food and air conditioning.

'It's just been dealt with,' Taylor said.

'The first few days, transport is always a challenge. The food, there's many options. The AOC has got a pantry for food, but they have options right there, you've got multiple different sites to go and eat.'

'The biggest thing for them is to swim down, get some massage and some food, and get back in their beds as quickly as possible.'

The beds in the Olympic Village have been the focus of controversy for their lack of comfort and 'wokeness'.

The single beds, produced by Airwave, feature cardboard frames as part of the organisers' sustainability efforts.

Titmus, who will defend her 200m freestyle title early Tuesday morning Australian time isn't the only Aussie athlete to speak out about conditions in the Athletes Village.

The 'anti-sex' cardboard beds went down like a lead balloon with Aussies water polo star Tilly Kearns and teammate Gabi Palm, who said 'my back is about to fall off' after their first night.

Tennis star Daria Saville also revealed that the village is nothing like being in a hotel in a social media post on Tuesday.

'We don't really have hotel-like housekeeping here in the Olympic Village, so you have to get your own toilet paper,' she wrote in a caption alongside video of herself grabbing several rolls.

It comes after retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen took a swipe at the Olympics, claiming that the so eco-friendly stance is ruining athletes' chances of setting world records.

Magnussen won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. 

He also secured the title of 100m freestyle world champion in 2011 and 2013. Magnussen retired from competitive swimming in 2019.

He believes that the pinnacle sporting event in the world has an eco-friendly, vegan-first mentality that is damaging performance.

'There's multiple factors that make village life far from ideal,' the dual Olympian wrote in his News Corp column.

'It's the cardboard beds, which can't give you optimal sleep.'

'It's the no air-conditioning, which is going to play a bigger factor as the week goes. It was 20 degrees and raining yesterday. It's going to be mid 30s in the coming days.

'That's going to play a factor and the Australian team having their own portable air conditioners will be a welcome relief.

Magnussen believes they've gone overboard and that the environment that has been created for the athletes might be the toughest ever to produce world record swims.

'The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance,' he said.