In a news sure to evoke a cheeky grin on our reader’s face, the athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympic 2020 will be sleeping on ‘anti-sex’ cardboard made beds at the Olympic Village. While we all have heard stories of athletes being given world-class facilities during their times at international sporting events, the news of athletes being given a cardboard made bed, meant for only 1 person, is evoking interesting emotions across the world.

Contents hide
1. Details
2. New Reports of ‘Anti-Sex’ Beds Surface
3. Olympic Athlete Lays All Rumours to Rest
4. Netizens Question Intentions of Olympics Organizers
5. More about the ‘Anti-Sex’ Beds

Details

The weekend was an eventful one for the Olympic enthusiasts. While contingents from several countries were reported leaving for Tokyo for the once in a 4-year, sporting event, social media was buzzing with a different news altogether.

In the past week, several media outlets ran with reports that athletes at this year’s Olympics will be made to sleep on ‘anti-sex’ beds made of cardboard. The cardboard of the beds is completely recyclable and Tokyo – in an attempt to colour itself energy conscious, has given contracts for such beds.

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New Reports of ‘Anti-Sex’ Beds Surface

While, reports on Tokyo opting for cardboard made beds were already out since January, the new round of reports sparked after Paul Chelimo – Rio Olympics silver medalist in 5,000 meters – posted a tweet saying, “Beds will be able to withstand the weight of a single person to avoid situations beyond sports. I see no problem for distance runners, even 4 of us can do.”

The tweet of Chelimo was obviously made in a lighter vein, and in no way portrayed that the beds were not good enough to carry the weight distribution of athletes. However, several media outlets ran with the news and claimed that the Olympic organizers made the beds fragile to discourage athletes from getting intimate during the times of COVID-19.

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Olympic Athlete Lays All Rumours to Rest

After the social media was buzzing with rumours of flimsy beds at Olympics, it was Irish artistic gymnast Rhys Mcclenaghan who took to Twitter and quashed those rumours. In his tweet, McClenaghan can be heard saying, “In today’s episode of fake news, the beds are meant to be ‘anti-sex’, they are made out of cardboard, yes, but..” and jumping up and down on the bed to assess its strength he adds, “…apparently, they’re meant to break with sudden movements. It’s fake – fake news!”

Further, the official Twitter handle of Tokyo Olympics shared Rhys’ tweet and thanked him for “debunking the myth”.

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Netizens Question Intentions of Olympics Organizers

However, that hasn’t stopped people from contemplating how flimsy the beds at Tokyo Olympics are and how the Olympics organizers can discourage intimacy. Here are some perspectives people shared on Twitter.

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More about the ‘Anti-Sex’ Beds

All the beds used by athletes at the Tokyo Olympics village will be made out of 100% recyclable cardboard. The ‘anti-sex’ beds can be interpreted as Japan’s way of enforcing social distancing protocols, and its attempts to label itself ‘energy conscious’.

The organizers of the event have given the contract of its manufacturing to Airweave. After the games conclude, the beds will be recycled and the mattresses that were once used by the athletes will be converted into plastic products.

The beds can withstand maximum 200 kgs of weight and are a way to promote the encourage social distancing.