RIO DE JANEIRO — Vivian Kong, an Olympic fencer representing Hong Kong, pointed toward the tower where she and the rest of her contingent are staying at the Olympic Village.
Most of the village’s 31 high-rise apartment buildings, which loom over the flat plain of suburban Rio, are decorated in the flags of the countries whose athletes are temporarily residing inside. Hong Kong, with 36 athletes, is in a building that includes the United Arab Emirates, Ivory Coast and Jamaica.
“We’re underneath Qatar,” Kong said.
Like most others, she had no idea why Hong Kong was placed in that building with those delegations, or why China and Russia had their own towers, side by side, or why Ireland was in a building with Spain and New Zealand while the members of the refugee team were in another high-rise, between Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.