900 Identical Bags Make For An Olympic-Sized Headache at Heathrow Airport
Every member of Team Great Britain was issued gear for this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, including red duffel bags from Adidas. The red bags turned out to cause quite the logistical challenge once the team landed at London's Heathrow Airport after the conclusion of the games. The team learned that it was in for a longer airport experience than usual when each of the 900 identical duffels fell on to the baggage claim carousel.
The baggage collection proved to be an equal task to actually competing in the Olympics, with many team members not leaving the airport until several hours after arriving. While many passengers would quickly lose patience in a situation like this, the athletes remained light-hearted and some, such as silver medalist windsurfer Nick Dempsey, tweeted funny selfies making light of a situation that would be a nightmare for many travelers.
The arrivals hall was a sea of red luggage, as gold medal rower Matt Langridge captured in a panorama he shared on Twitter.
Ultimately, everyone was reunited with their own luggage — even if it did take several hours of sorting. Hopefully Team Great Britain will keep this episode in mind when selecting gear for the 2020 games in Tokyo.
H/T: The Washington Post
