Sochi Winter Olympics snowboarder reveals 'bathroom rules' - with athletes banned from fishing in toilets

‘Dos and Don’ts’ chart for the 2014 accommodation also bans being sick, taking drugs and standing to pee

This image posted was posted to Twitter by Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant, with the caption: 'Well that's interesting... Sochi rules in the bathrooms!'

(Twitter)

The attention of the world will soon be drawn to how Russia enforces its peculiar rules and regulations over the course of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics – and it seems new ones are coming to light every day.

Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant has recently arrived in Russia ahead of the games, and while looking around the accommodation stumbled across a bizarre chart showing what he said were the "Sochi rules in the bathrooms".

While the list of dos and don’ts includes some reasonable tips in aid of promoting good hygiene - not standing up, being sick or squatting above the toilet being used - you might be forgiven for thinking the chart's designers had ran out of ideas when they got to the last two rules.

In one, a stick man can clearly be seen fishing, with a rod, in the toilet. The reasoning behind this remains unclear - with fishing not included as a sport at the winter games, athletes are unlikely to have brought equipment along with them.

It seems equally unlikely that the architects of the $51 billion (£300 billion) games would have cut costs by building toilets over frozen fishing lakes.

While it is a little more understandable, the sign instructing athletes not to do drugs in the toilets also seems a little gratuitous, given the games’ strict anti-doping policies and structures.

This is not the first picture to be tweeted of the toilets at games which has garnered international attention, with questions raised last month as to the practical use of a twin toilet in the Sochi Biathlon Centre.

Though it remains to be seen how officials will enforce a ban on fishing in the loos, of greater interest internationally will be whether the authorities take action based on Russia’s new laws against so-called "gay propaganda".

President Vladimir Putin has insisted gay people from around the world can "feel relaxed and comfortable" coming to Sochi this month – but with the alarming caveat of " as long as they leave the children in peace".

The 2014 games are expected to be the most expensive Winter Olympics ever, taking place from 7 to 23 February.

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