Deep within the heart of the sprawling Athletes’ Village, located just east of downtown Toronto, flies a Bermuda flag from the balcony of a second-floor apartment.

One of a pair of identical units housing Team Bermuda, the modest two-bedroom apartments will be converted into private and student residences for George Brown College after the Games.

Luxury-living spaces these are not.

Certainly not the type of accommodations you would expect multi-millionaire players from any top football team or baseball franchise to check into when they’re on the road.

Cramped is the most appropriate adjective to describe the bedrooms, which are furnished with one bunk bed and a single bed.

Glamorous it isn’t, not that you will hear any Bermuda athlete complaining.

“They’re fine, I mean, they feel a bit like dormitories and the sunlight comes through the blinds every morning and wakes me up,” says Cameron Pimentel, the Laser sailor, who roomed with coaches Dino Weber and Cristian Noe.

“The food has been great though, which was kind of surprising.”

Being awoken by the rising sun, as nature intended it, isn’t too much of a problem for Pimentel.

He had to board one of the many athletes’ coaches to travel to a small launch station in the regenerated Port Lands at 8am.

From there, Pimentel and the other sailors jumped on a ferry to the opulent Royal Canadian Yacht Club Island Clubhouse overlooking the Toronto skyline.

Like many of Bermuda’s team, Pimentel has been competing on the biggest stage of his sporting career against some of the best athletes in the world.

Nobody said it was going to be a vacation.

Even so, the Village, an 80-acre site next to the Don River in Toronto’s Waterfront District, still provides plenty of perks for the ridiculously hard-bodied, tracksuited inhabitants, who seem to walk with an enviable gazelle-like grace and purpose.

Heck, there’s even a hair salon for the female performers, probably used by a few male ones as well, to make sure they look just right for that photo finish.

It’s reasonably easy to distinguish between those who are inactive for the day from the ones who are in competition mode.

A trance-like state, perhaps indicating the butterflies have awoken from their slumber, has begun to take hold over a few, their bodies coiling like springs while a tension creeps over their annoyingly attractive features.

Some are sporting colourful, bulky Beats by Dre headphones, deliberately drowning out the rest of the world as they focus on producing performances that many have spent a lifetime training towards.

No Bermuda athletes are competing on this day, with their apartment block, which has been christened “Cottage Country” — a name given to the Ontario areas popular for summer homes — feeling quiet and empty.

They are a few Peruvian and Mexican athletes busily scurrying about the laundry room, while several Cubans, who have earned a reputation as the pranksters of the Village, are leaving the building and making the short stroll to the impressive dining hall to refuel.

There are no shortage of food options, with a wide variety of meals and snacks being offered at four stations named after distinct Toronto neighbourhoods. The Little Italy station serving pizza and pasta dishes, the St Lawrence Grill offering grilled meats and vegetables, the Spadina station dishing out Asian fare, and the Kensington Power Market providing salads.

Flora Duffy has long left the Village, but her presence is still felt by the home-made congratulations signs that have been carefully blu-tacked to the front doors of both Bermuda apartments.

Duffy’s bronze-medal display in the triathlon on the opening day of the Games still has everyone smiling.

None more so than Carlos Lee, the team’s chef de mission.

Lee has been an omniscient presence here in Toronto. Cheerleader, counsellor and fixer of all problems, he has been present at every one of the events involving Bermuda athletes.

Armed with an impressive-looking camera ideally suited for sports photography, as well as a congratulatory hug or commiserative embrace, depending on the circumstances, it’s been a hectic few weeks for the insurance worker. An enjoyable few weeks, too.

“We’re not staying in fancy hotels, but for a multi-sport competition, this is as good as it gets,” Lee says. “Unless you’re Michael Jordan and the USA ‘Dream Team’ of course, who would have booked into luxury hotel suites.

“The food is good, the accommodations are clean and furnished to a pretty good standard. I mean, we’re sleeping on cots, not fancy beds, but they’re perfectly good.”

Lee represented Bermuda in field hockey at the 1987 Pan Am Games in Indianapolis. Athletes’ Villages were slightly different back then.

“Indianapolis was nice from what I can remember,” says Lee, who opted for pizza and salad for lunch, “but it didn’t get close to this.

“For our athletes, it’s been a great experience, particularly with the camaraderie and social aspect. There’s been a lot of cultural exchange going on, which is great.”

In two days’ time the 7,000 athletes from 41 nations, competing in 36 sports, will have packed up and returned home.

The noisy, bustling Village will turn into a veritable ghost town. Not just yet, though.

They are still a few more medals to be won, friendships to be made and delicious pizza to be enjoyed.