Why Paris 2024 Olympic Athletes Are Sleeping on Cardboard Beds

This story originally appeared in WIRED Italia. It has been translated from Italian.

Yes, the athletes’ beds at the Paris 2024 Olympics are indeed made of cardboard. The paper-based berth news, which has aroused curiosity and some skepticism after some videos of athletes circulated online, was confirmed by the organizers of the French Olympic Games, who let it be known that Airweave, the Japanese company that had managed the athletes’ rest in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has been dubbed the “official bedding supporter of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

These cardboard beds can be transported unassembled in relatively small containers, and then, once their function, is over they can be recycled. Yet despite the paper construction, the beds themselves, once put together properly, 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,” Motokuni Takaoka, founder and president of Airweave, said.

No-Sex Beds?

The introduction of cardboard beds had reignited a controversy that arose during the Tokyo Olympics. In 2020, American cross-country skier Paul Chelimo expressed his concern by posting a video of the beds and speculating that their apparent fragility could be a way to limit intimacy among athletes. The no-sex bed theory, however, was later debunked, with the distancing measures implemented by the Olympic committee aimed at reducing the risk of Covid infection.

However, the ban on intimacy between athletes, which had fueled these concerns at the time, was lifted by the Olympic committee last March. Director of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic villages Laurent Michaud told Sky News at the time that the committee would be giving out 300,000 condoms to ensure “everybody will have what they are expecting and what they need”.

As to withstanding the rigors of jumping, celebratory or any other kind, as the athletes’ videos show, the beds are designed to withstand the stress of up to 250 kg in weight, as well as have a customizable modular mattress system with three blocks in different firmness levels that can be adapted to different athletes’ physiques and needs.

Sustainable Slumber

The use of the 16,000 cardboard beds with mattresses that are fully reusable and recyclable for the Paris games is part of a series of initiatives put in place aiming to make these “the Greenest Ever Games”, with another being the cleanup of the Seine River.

Last week, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo donned a wet suit and goggles, and completely submerged herself in the Seine, where swimming has been banned for the past century, and for 50 years raw sewage was released into the river. The PR stunt was to prove that the water was now clean enough to stage several Olympic swimming events; and three public bathing areas will open in the Games’ aftermath.