Churros, pranks, and hallway bobsleds: Here’s what Winter Olympic athletes get up to when they’re not competing

Getty Images

Athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang have all had to work hard.

Qualification for the Olympic games requires years of dedication, training, and skill.

So it might be easy to assume that while competitors are preparing for an event they adhere to a strict diet, work out in the gym, and go to bed early.

But some athletes like to let loose.

This involves eating churros, play elaborate pranks on each other, and riding makeshift bobsleds down hallways inside the Olympic village.

Business Insider has collected photographs from Getty, Instagram, and Twitter to shine a light on how some competitors at the Winter Olympics have been spending their downtime.

Scroll down to find out.

Athletes tend to hang out at the Olympic village in Pyeongchang. Some nations send delegations so large they take up multiple floors within the high-rise apartment blocks. North Korea, for instance, has three floors reserved but the competitors are “separated from other nations.”

Reuters

Sources: CNN.

Before athletes check-in, they might sign this “Truce Wall.” One of the themes of every Olympics is peace — and that is not lost on athletes. Here, three American lugers (Emily Sweeney, Erin Hamlin, and Summer Britcher) pose in front of peace symbols that were originally designated for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Getty Images

Once inside, athletes can get together and hang out in the apartments, much like members of the Australian Olympic team are doing right here.

Getty Images

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• Mikaela Shiffrin — the skiing star poised to have an historic Olympics — has suddenly seen things swing the other way
• The Winter Olympics are ‘killing’ some Pyeongchang business owners — here’s why
• The Olympic skier who went viral for riding an escalator handrail has been hit by the contagious norovirus which causes vomiting and diarrhoea — but he could still compete

SEE ALSO: The world’s first ski tournament for robots was held near the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics — and the pictures are incredible

DON’T MISS: A pair of gold medal winning Canadian figure skaters toned down their ‘raunchy’ routine because it was like a ‘porno’

UP NEXT: North Korean Olympians have a 24/7 surveillance team who will tackle them if they try to run away