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This story originally appeared in WIRED ItaliaIt has been translated from Italian.
Yes, the athletes’ beds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are made of cardboard. The news of the paper bunks, which has aroused curiosity and some skepticism after Some videos of athletes The announcement, which circulated on the internet, was confirmed by the organizers of the French Olympic Games, who announced that Airweave, the Japanese company that had managed the rest of the athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, has been christened the “Official sponsor of bedding of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
These cardboard beds can be transported flat-packed in relatively small containers and, once they have served their purpose, can be recycled. However, despite their paper construction, the beds themselves, once assembled correctly, have been designed to be surprisingly sturdy – and for good reason.
“We designed these cardboard beds so that they can support up to three or four people jumping, because after winning a medal, people are very happy,” said Motokuni Takaoka, founder and president of Airweave.
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Beds without sex?
The introduction of cardboard beds had rekindled a controversy that arose during the Tokyo Olympics. In 2020, American cross-country skier Paul Chelimo expressed his concern posting a video of the beds and speculating that her apparent fragility could be a way of limiting intimacy between athletes. However, the sexless bed theory was later debunked, with distancing measures implemented by the Olympic committee aimed at reducing the risk of Covid infection.
However, the ban on intimacy between athletes, which had fuelled these concerns at the time, was lifted by the Olympic committee last March. Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic village director Laurent Michaud told Sky News at the time that the committee would distributing 300,000 condoms to ensure that “everyone will have what they expect and what they need.”
As for withstanding the rigors of jumping, celebration or otherwise, as shown in the athlete videos, the beds are designed to withstand the stress of up to 250kg of weight, as well as featuring a customizable modular mattress system with three blocks in different firmness levels that can be tailored to different athlete physiques and needs.
The cardboard letters at the Parigi 2024 OlympicsGao Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images
Sustainable dream
The use of 16,000 cardboard beds with fully reusable and recyclable mattresses for the Paris Games is part of a series of initiatives launched with the aim of making these “the greenest Games in history”, one of which is the cleaning of the River Seine.
Last week, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo donned a wetsuit and goggles and took a full dive into the Seine, where swimming has been banned for a century and where raw sewage has been dumped for 50 years. The publicity stunt was to show that the water was now clean enough to host several Olympic swimming events – and that three public bathing areas would be opened after the Games.