Paris Olympics organisers deny beds for athletes are ‘anti-sex’
PARIS – They may be made of cardboard, but the beds at the Athletes’ Village for this summer’s Paris Olympics have been chosen for their environmental credentials, not to prevent competitors having sex, organisers said.
The clarification came after fresh reports that the beds, manufactured by Japanese company Airweave and already used during the Tokyo 2020 Games, were to deter athletes from jumping under the covers together in the City of Love.
“We know the media has had a lot of fun with this story since Tokyo 2020, but for Paris 2024 the choice of these beds for the Olympic and Paralympic Village is primarily linked to a wider ambition to ensure minimal environmental impact and a second life for all equipment,” a spokesman for the Paris Games said.
The bed bases are made from recycled cardboard, but during a demonstration in July 2023 Airweave founder Motokuni Takaoka jumped on one of them and stressed that they “can support several people on top”.
The Paris spokesman added: “The quality of the furniture has been rigorously tested to ensure it is robust, comfortable and appropriate for all the athletes who will use it, and who span a very broad range of body types – from gymnasts to judokas.”
The fully modular Airweave beds can be customised to accommodate long and large body sizes, with the mattresses – made out of resin fibre – available with different firmness levels. After the Games, the bed frames will be recycled while the mattresses and pillows will be donated to schools or associations.
Athletes will sleep in single beds, two or three to a room, in the Village, a newly built complex close to the main athletics stadium in a northern suburb of the capital.
A report this week in the New York Post tabloid titled “Anti-sex beds have arrived at Paris Olympics” was widely circulated on social media.
Similar claims went viral before the Tokyo Olympics, sometimes fanned by athletes themselves.
To debunk them, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan filmed a video of himself jumping repeatedly on a bed to demonstrate their solidity.
In other Olympic news, an opening ceremony test scheduled for later in May on the Seine has been postponed after heavy rain increased the flow of the river, a city official said on May 17.
The technical test for the boats that will take the athletes on a 6km parade was due to take place on May 27, but was postponed following recent heavy rainfall.
“The flow of the Seine is too high. We are trying to get as close as possible to the actual conditions of the 26th of July,” said Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor for sports.
A new date has yet to be set. The dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony is still scheduled for June 17. AFP, REUTERS