A female athlete has revealed that the Olympic Village in Paris is not really the ideal place to flirt for gold medals as pop culture depicts it.
Emily Delleman, an Olympic rower for Team USA, posted a video on TikTok about her experience as a single athlete at the games and how dating apps are a ghost town even though there is a town full of the world’s best competitors.
“So far, most things have exceeded my expectations: the food, the vibe, the raw atmosphere, the settings… everything except this,” Delleman said.
Delleman said that after recovering from one of his practices, he was relaxing on the infamous “anti-sex” cardboard beds, when he saw a single woman on TikTok encouraging others to change their location on Tinder to the Olympic village to match with attractive athletes.
Delleman said that since he hadn’t used Tinder for years, the dating app was already “promoting” the possibility of matching with potential gold medal-winning girls.
Team USA Olympic rower Emily Delleman posted a video on TikTok about her experience as a single athlete at the games.
Delleman said that after recovering from one of her practices, she was relaxing on the infamous “anti-sex” cardboard beds, when she saw a single woman on TikTok encouraging others to change their location on Tinder to the Olympic village to match with good-looking athletes.
“I was getting excited, expectations were rising,” she said, detailing how she embellished her profile to showcase her athletic prowess as a competitor in this year’s game.
But when he started scrolling, he said there were barely any other athletes on the app.
“I started scrolling and scrolling and I didn’t see any Olympians. I thought, ‘OK, my (location) settings must be weird,'” he said, although he narrowed his location to within a mile of the Olympic village.
“So far, I think I’ve seen two other Olympians,” he continued. “Don’t get me wrong. You Parisians are beautiful… but I went with the expectation of finding some of my future plots.”
The Olympics begin on Friday night in the City of Lights, but organizers have reportedly tried to discourage sexual activity among athletes during the Games.
It is public knowledge that some athletes had sex at past Olympics and there are reports that Durex will be delivering 200,000 condoms to them in the next three weeks.
Although Olympic organizers emphasized the cardboard beds as a symbol of sustainability, attention has shifted to the athletes’ experiences and the vibrant social scene in the Olympic Village.
Delleman said that since she hadn’t been on Tinder for years, the dating app was already “hyping up” the possibility of matching with potential gold medalists, but she said she’s barely seen any athletes on the app.
Athletes who have shared their stories have only added to the buzz surrounding the games’ sexual culture.
For example, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan proved that bed frames were much sturdier than advertised.
In an Instagram video, the punch-horse star said: ‘I’m at the Paris Olympics and once again they have these cardboard ‘anti-sex beds’.
“Last time I tested them, they stood up to my tests. Although I may not have been rigorous enough.”
The 25-year-old then put the bed to the test by jumping on it, doing handstands and front flips.
Despite the extra weight I was putting on the bed by doing this, the frame didn’t move.
McClenaghan concluded: “No, they pass the test. It’s fake, it’s fake news!”
Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan has tested the robustness of Olympic ‘anti-sex beds’
Team GB diving icon Tom Daley previously tested the beds, in a video uploaded to TikTok.
After sharing some close-up shots of the bed frame, Daley, 30, began jumping up and down on his mattress, saying: “As you can see, they’re pretty sturdy.”
Israeli baseball player Ben Wanger also posted a TikTok video of himself jumping on the bed without breaking it.
Wanger later deleted her video, but in it she said: “We really enjoyed sleeping in these beds and believe they are an excellent and sustainable option for future Olympic Games.”
However, cardboard beds have not been shown to be popular with all athletes.
Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns and her teammate Gabi Palm appear to be less impressed.
“I’ve already had a massage to undo the damage,” Kearns lamented on social media.
Kearns also uploaded a video, which begins with her saying: “First night on the cardboard beds.”
In the background, Palm can be heard saying, “My back is about to fall off.”
As he tried to adjust the bed, Kearns added: “It’s really rock solid. You can move it around a bit, apparently it has a softer side.”
After turning the mattress over, a disappointed Kearns complained: “That was the soft side.”
McClenaghan is hoping to leave Paris with her first Olympic medal and has a good chance after winning two world championships, three European championships and a Commonwealth Games title on the pommel horse.