Matildas land in Paris days out from first Olympic clash with Germany
The Matildas have landed in Paris just days out from their first Olympic battle, but they were not immune to Friday’s global IT meltdown, despite splashing out on a charter flight.
Olympic organisers in Paris said the IT chaos impacted their accreditation systems, their uniform distribution, and other minor things.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Matildas land in Paris.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.However, the major impact was in flight disruptions with 31,000 flights delayed and 4000 cancelled.
In total, that’s around 6.5 million passengers and Olympians were caught up in the drama, including the Matildas.
The Matildas flew into Marseille and — despite having their own private charter jet to get them there — were delayed by an eyebrow-raising 90 minutes. But their uniforms weren’t on the plane with them.
Coach Tony Gustavsson defended the expense of the private jet, saying it was needed and necessary.
“It’s been part of the things that I was employed to do as well, to work on a player-centric, healthy, high performance environment where player welfare comes into the centre of everything we do so that we can roll out the red carpet for them to walk on so that they can focus on performance, 90 minute football and beyond,” he said.
Star defender Ellie Carpenter said now that the team had touched down in France, things started to feel “a bit more real”.
“We’re six days out now, so tournament mode, you know, switched on,” she said.
“We’re very excited and I just want the games to start now.”
The Matildas first game is next Wednesday against Germany.
They are hoping, obviously, to get through to the finals in Paris on August 10.
