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Home / Sport / Olympics

Rio Olympics 2016: Check out Team USA basketball's cruise ship accommodation

Daily Mail
5 Aug, 2016 08:50 PM5 mins to read

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Members of the Team USA women's basketball team relaxing on their cruise ship. Photo / Instagram

Members of the Team USA women's basketball team relaxing on their cruise ship. Photo / Instagram

While the rest of Team USA sleeps in the bare bones dorms of Rio's athletes' village, the U.S. men's and women's basketball teams have been living it up on their very own cruise ship.

USA Basketball and their sponsor, Cisco, have rented out the entire Silver Cloud cruise ship, to provide enhanced security to such world-famous players as Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.

The players arrived this week, and since then, they've been flooding their social media accounts with photos and videos of their over-the-top accommodations on the nine-deck ship.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elena Delle Donne (@de11edonne)

A few of the women's team members even took a cheat day from their pre-Olympics diet to enjoy some tropical beverages at the ship's al fresco bar on Thursday.

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'Livin' the dream!' Chicago Sky star Elena Delle Donne captioned the photo, which also included teammates Brittney Griner and Angel McCoughtry.

McCoughtry herself spent a good deal of Thursday by the pool with her girlfriend, actress Brande Elise. The couple looked loved up as they tanned poolside on what appeared to be a beautifully sunny and hot Rio day.

The men have also been engaging in a good deal of team bonding. Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green has been snapchatting the team's shenanigans off the practice court.

Thursday night, the team was hanging out on the boat after dark when DeMarcus Cousins, of the Sacramento Kings, stole Green's phone and started snapchatting a video of him eating a Nerds rope and dancing.

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The next morning, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving took video of the boys relaxing at a table by the pool, with team captain Carmelo striking a super-serious pose.

If it seems like the basketball stars are having a little too much fun, there's little cause for concern. Both the men's and women's team have refused to yield the gold medal for the past several Olympics.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amanda Delle Donne (@mandadelle)

The men have won the last two Olympics tournaments in a row, while the women haven't let up a championship since 1992.

Meanwhile, the rest of Team USA has been making do with the lodging in Rio's Olympic Village, which has been described at best as bare bones and at worst as a hovel.

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Some athletes in the official village have complained about exposed wiring and leaking and there is a gut wrenching stench from nearby canals contaminated by raw sewage.

Comparatively, the basketball stars have been living the high life with a slew of amenities on board including their own chefs, concierge services on hand, and a fleet of cars to ferry them to and from their training courts in the city.

Some of the lofty players stand almost 7ft tall and extended beds have been installed to allow them to sleep comfortably. Anti-Zika sprays and lotions are also on hand and mosquito nets, should they be required.

While the luxury accommodations may seem unfair to the rest of Team USA, it's been usual for USA Basketball to secure more upscale lodgings for their millionaire players ever since the Olympics started letting professional players compete in the basketball tournament.

Normally, a cabin on the 514-foot-long ship costs around $13,000-a-week. It's unclear how much renting out the entire ship is, but IT firm Cisco, USA Basketball's sponsor, is said to be footing the bill.

This is a price that a lot of other countries have refused to pay for their basketball teams.

For example, Dallas Mavericks star Andrew Bogut is playing for Australia in the tournament. He was named the country's richest sports star last year, with earnings of $16million, but is staying in the athletes' dorms like any other player.

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He posted a photo online earlier this week, showing him putting together shower curtain in his humble accommodations.

'Putting together a shower curtain so we can shower and not flood the place,' he wrote alongside an image of him attaching hooks to a plastic sheet with the hashtag 'IOC Luxury Lodging'.

As some of the most recognizable faces in the Olympics however, securing a safe home base for the players may have been more of a necessity especially in street crime-heavy Rio.

The concern for the players is seen in the barriers surrounding the boat.

The only entrance to the boat is through an airport style scanner which is manned by Port Maua staff, backed up by security guards. And on the water, police circle the ship on gun boats with marksmen equipped with automatic rifles.

The moored ship is surrounded by a bullet proof glass fence and 250 federal police officers are on alert keeping a watchful eye.

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An official told Daily Mail Online that the boat also offers a place where the players can relax off the court in peace.

Had they stayed in the athletes' village, 'they might be troubled for autographs even from the athletes and media'.

'That would not be fair to them. They are very accommodating to fans when they can, but these are the Olympics.'

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