Athletes have started to arrive in Paris ahead of the Olympics, which will begin later this week. Many of them will be disappointed with their sleeping arrangements if they aren’t already.
They are being forced to sleep on literal cardboard beds…
All of the 14,250 beds and mattresses across the 54-hectare Olympic Village are fully recyclable. All of the pillows will be donated to various schools and organizations after the conclusion of the Games.
The Olympics shared a glimpse of the beds on its YouTube channel last week. There are three different modules for athletes to pick how firm they want the bed to be and they can extend it to fit their height.
This style of bed was also used at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but not for Beijing in 2022. The winter Olympians had fully adjustable beds with remotes.
There was a lot of speculation that the cardboard beds were intended to limit the amount of intercourse between athletes (something that is rampant in the Olympic Village) at a time where there were a lot of additional health and safety guidelines due to the pandemic. American indoor volleyball players Erik Shoji and Taylor Sander seemingly debunked that theory three years ago by jumping all over the bed.
Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan also administered his own experiment and did so again this year.
American fencer Mitchell Saron jumped on his new bed as well.
Paris Olympic organizers claim that the choice is “primarily linked to a wider ambition to ensure minimal environmental impact and a second life for all equipment.” Even if that is true, and it’s not to prevent coitus, athletes were not thrilled last time and won’t be thrilled this time.
United States skateboarder Nyjah Houston expressed his frustration in Tokyo.
“The only problem I see is that me and the boys got a hard, uncomfortable bed to sleep on.We need good sleep and me and the homies here, we’re not worried about hooking up with chicks. We’re at the f—— Olympics to focus and beast up. That’s what we’re here for.”
— Nyjah Houston in 2021
Swedish goalkeeper Zećira Mušović was also in opposition to the cardboard decision.
Regardless of their true purpose — which seems to be rooted in environmental consciousness — the beds are the beds. All of the athletes are forced to sleep on the same bed. If they want to do the nasty, it sure looks like they won’t have any issues!