The cardboard beds from the 2020 Tokyo Games will once again be used at the Olympic Village during the 2024 Paris Games. The beds are part of a sustainability effort and they are expected to be "fully recycled after the Games." When the beds first came out, American track and field runner Paul Chelimo shared pictures of them and suggested they were unsteady for the purpose of "avoiding intimacy among athletes.
" However, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan has debunked this by posting a video of himself aggressively jumping on one of the beds. A post shared by Rhys McClenaghan (@rhysmcc1) The beds, which organizers claim are 100% made in France, are made to withstand the stress of up to 550 pounds in weight. They are also customizable with three modules that allow athletes to choose the firmness level of the mattress.
The frames can extend to make the bed longer. Despite the fact that the beds have proven to be sturdy, they are still not very popular with all the athletes. Interestingly enough, the cardboard part itself might not be the problem.
Most of the complaints seem to be regarding how the mattress is not very soft. The mattresses, made by Airweave, consist of AirFiber and are meant to be "a luxury firm bed." "When you're sleeping at night and you're in memory foam and it's time to turn, you actually have to put so much effort to turn that you wake up from a deep sleep," COO Brett Thornton told ENews.
"You come out of deep REM and then it takes you another five minutes to ge.