Olympics 2016: Team GB fly economy with British Airways to Rio despite airline sponsoring the squad
Great Britain's premier athletes were crammed in back of the jet for 11-hour slog over the Atlantic - apart from special five
TEAM GB have hardly had the most relaxing start to their Rio 2016 adventure - after flying economy class on the gruelling 11-hour journey to Brazil.
Despite record investment in the squad for this year's Games and with talk of a record medal haul, almost the entire track and field squad flew in the cheap seats with partner British Airways.
But they were piled into the rear of the plane, while just five were upgraded to business class based on medical grounds and medal-winning potential.
Christine Ohuruogu, Adam Gemili, Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Martyn Rooney were given the plush treatment while the rest slummed it out in coach.
Neil Black, UK Atletics performance director, said: ‘If you think about it logically, it’s madness for us all to go economy for such a long journey so close to competition.
"But we’re used to it. It came as no surprise."
Aussies hit by village thieves
THE AUSTRALIAN team have had a bad start to their Games too - after a laptop and team shirts were stolen from their accommodation .
Their building had been evacuated after a small fire and when the team returned there were items missing from the room.
Former Pentathlete Katy Chiller said: "When you’ve got 15,000 beds, you’ve got a lot of people walking around the village.
"I’m not accusing anybody, but there’s a lot of non-accredited — if you like — workers, cleaners, housecleaners, and maintenance workers walking around.
"Unfortunately, theft is going to be inevitable.
“We have reminded all our team members, especially in the village, that you keep your doors locked — your bedroom door and the apartment door.”
There were reports of division amongst some of the team after the five were upgraded - especially when the popular chicken dish ran out.
A BOA spokesman said British Airways were suppliers rather than sponsors, therefore it was up to the federation booking the flights if they wanted to pay for business class tickets.