After going viral during the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the so-called anti-sex beds have returned to the Games Village, this time in Paris. The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics provided the athletes with soft cardboard beds along with condoms to provide intimacy and have done the same in Paris. While the organisers said that the beds were made of cardboard from the environment perspective, the athletes weren't sure if that was the right reason, given they were handed out Olympic-themed condoms as well in the Village.
To test that out, many athletes in the village put those beds and mattresses through rigorous tests. Australian tennis stars Daria Saville and Ellen Perez shared a video of them doing all sorts of things to test the tenacity of the beds. From doing volley practice, squat jumps, step-ups, worms and what not. However, the beds did hold up despite all that they went through.
Irish artistic gymnast Rhys McClenaghan filmed himself performing headstands, jumping and running on those cardboard beds to fully test them out and to their credit, they held on to their own. "When I tested them last time, they withstood my testing. Maybe I wasn't rigorous enough…” he said during the video which he posted on his Instagram with the caption, "Paris Olympics ‘Anti-sex beds’ debunked (again)." British diver Tom Daley too was content with the sturdiness of the beds.
However, a few of the athletes were not happy with the comfort of the cardboard beds. "My back is about to fall off,” says Australian water polo athlete Tilly Kearns' roommate in the video she posted on her Instagram.
Earlier in May, a Paris Olympics spokesperson debunking the myth had said, "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."
