RIO DE JANEIRO -- Imagine wearing the same clothes to work every day for a week.

Canada's sprint star Andre De Grasse is one of Canada's busiest athletes at the Rio Olympics, so one might assume he has a whole closet of racing gear. Not exactly.

The 21-year-old's Canada kit includes just two of Nike's black, red and grey competitive outfits: a singlet and shorts, plus a one-piece bodysuit that he was given the night before the 100 metre heats, after his camp complained.

Athletes have enough to do to prepare for races, that they shouldn't have to worry about clean clothes, said one source close to De Grasse.

"It's absolutely ridiculous that Canada cannot provide more than one competition uniform," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "Where athletes should be eating, resting, getting treatment, and sleeping, now they have to waste time washing their uniform. Very short-sighted from the powers that be."

The star sprinter from Markham, Ont., ran his fifth race of the Olympics on Wednesday night in the 200 semifinals.

It's a good bet he had to hit the laundromat before the 200 final Thursday night.

De Grasse, who raced to bronze in the 100 metres, will also compete in the 4x100 relay on Friday.

Every condo in the athletes village has laundry service where athletes can drop off their laundry in mesh bags. One bag for whites, one for colours. There's same-day service if they drop it off early. Otherwise, the bathroom sink is the best option.

Almost all the athletes on Canada's track and field team have just one competitive kit.

"That's crazy," said kayaker Adam van Koeverden. "I have plenty."

Van Koeverden doesn't wear the competition clothing provided by his national sport organization, mainly because he has a different sponsor in Asics. He orders his own for himself and fellow paddler Mark Oldershaw. He did the sizing and screening at a Toronto shop.

"If you want something done your way, you've just got to do it," Van Koeverden said.

Athletics Canada had no comment about the uniform situation.

There's a seemingly big discrepancy among the gear athletes received for Rio.

Among Canadian squads, the women's soccer team has eight -- four red uniforms and four white. The women's basketball team, however, has just two, one of each colour.

Canada's track cyclists have three.

"They're all individually fit so some of us stick to one and some of us put on all three over the days (of competition)," said Georgia Simmerling, a bronze medallist in team pursuit.

Jessica Zelinka was one of Canada's busiest athletes at the 2012 Olympics in London, competing in both the heptathlon and the 100-metre hurdles. Canadian combined events athletes, she said, usually get two uniforms. But even that's not enough.

"With combined-events athletes it's almost a guarantee that we'll be competing seven to 10 times," said the two-time Olympian, who's not competing in Rio. "Sweat in it all morning, come back in the same uniform in the evening. Wear sandy bottoms from long jump to throw javelin and run the 800 metres in.

"Even so, I don't understand why not every team member wouldn't be able to get two uniforms," added Zelinka, who was fifth in heptathlon at the 2008 Games in Beijing, then added a sixth (heptathlon) and seventh-place finish (hurdles) in 2012 in London.

"You could have two races in a day and get soaked in the morning race and need to run again that evening. Or even just having a second one on hand, if one gets misplaced in the call room shuffling or left on a bus, or ripped by a track spike by accident.

"Individual athletes tend to always carry an extra pair of competition spikes with them for these reasons -- always good to have a back-up."