A BBC correspondent in Russia for the upcoming Sochi Games went to use the men's room this week and got a big surprise: tandem toilets.
Steve Rosenberg was so amused, and confused, by the double toilet setup at a restroom at Sochi's Laura Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon Complex that he tweeted a photo on Monday and wrote a column about it.
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"There was a sink, some paper towels, but oddly enough
there were two toilets where you'd expect just one — full-sized lavatories, they were, side by side — and no partition down the middle," Rosenberg wrote. "Equally strange, there was only one toilet paper dispenser — within reach of just one of the toilets. I didn't really know what to do. Which seat should I sit on? Was I allowed to sit on either of them? Or was this strictly a loo for two?"
The photo has since gone viral, eliciting a slew of Twitter jokes and about the possible reasoning behind the design, as well as hilarious reactions.
"It's the tandem toilet," one tweet read. "One seat for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the other for [Prime Minister Dmitry] Medvedev."
"Be careful — this is gay propaganda," another stated in reference to Russia's recent anti-gay laws.
"Two toilets — 28,000 roubles. Olympic media centre — 1.5bn roubles. Global embarrassment — priceless."
"This is what $50bn gets you!" one Twitter user wrote.
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