Athlete says how it feels to sleep on ‘anti-sex’ cardboard bed at Paris Olympics

The “anti-sex” cardboard beds have always been in the eye of controversy since their debut in Tokyo in 2021. Reportedly, the beds were constructed to stop athletes from getting intimate with one another during the post-Covid period. However, several athletes have slammed the beds as uncomfortable and hard. A recent video on Instagram highlights the very same issues. In the video, an athlete is seen saying that the “beds are s***”.
“More news on BedGate 2024,” reads the caption to the video shared on an Instagram page. In the video, an athlete is seen half-asleep on her bed with a text insert appearing on the screen that reads, “Update on the Olympic cardboard beds. The first word that came out of her mouth this morning.”
As the video progresses, the athlete is seen complaining about the beds. The video also shows a snippet from a clip posted by Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns. There, she reveals that the Olympians from her country at the 2024 Paris Olympics have received mattress toppers to make sleeping on hard beds easier.
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With over 3.6 million views, the video has gone viral on social media. It has also sparked outrage among people, with many asking how athletes are supposed to perform well if they are unable to have a peaceful sleep.
“Can you imagine the kind of performance we would get from athletes if they actually got a proper night’s sleep now?” questioned an Instagram user. Another added, “How are these athletes supposed to perform when they sleep on shoe boxes?”
A third individual expressed, “Just buy normal beds and then donate them to the poor! There are millions of people that urgently need a new mattress/bed and can’t afford it.” A fourth wrote, “Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to get fired.” A few pointed out that similar beds were provided in the Tokyo Olympics.
“The organising committee was thinking about recyclable items, and the bed was one of the ideas,” Takashi Kitajima, the general manager of the Tokyo Athletes Village, told the Associated Press in 2020. The GM added that the beds can hold 200 kg of weight. This year, the organisers of the Paris Olympics also adopted the bed frame design.