Why Does the Olympics Use Cardboard Beds for Athletes?

With thousands of the best athletes in the world having converged on Paris, France for the 2024 Summer Olympics, the media coverage fills most of the 24-hour news cycle.

One of the most interesting topics surrounding the Olympics involves the accommodations being provided for the athletes.

One of the most wonderful traditions surrounding the Olympics is the Olympic Village. Host cities funnel tons of time, energy, and money into the Olympic Village, which refers to the area where the Olympic athletes stay during the Games.

On the surface, you would assume that world-class athletes who have earned the right to represent their home countries on the biggest stage in the world would receive five-star accommodations. When you envision the Olympic Village, you may think of sprawling suites filled with only the finest luxuries that the host city has to offer.

After all, these athletes rely on their bodies to perform at the highest possible level in their pursuit of gold. With this in mind, many people become curious when they hear that Olympians are sleeping on beds made of cardboard.

You read that right. For several years now, there has been a great deal of conversation and even controversy surrounding the bedding that’s provided to Olympians once they arrive in the host cities.

Is it true? Do the Olympics really have the athletes sleep on beds made out of cardboard? If so, why?

With the games having recently gotten underway, you may be hearing some conflicting information about the accommodations in the Olympic Village, including the use of cardboard beds. Learn more about the truth behind this story today.

Do the Olympics Use Cardboard Beds for Athletes?

Yes, the stories of Olympians sleeping on beds made of cardboard are absolutely true. This is a relatively new concept, though.

The first appearance of these cardboard beds goes back to the 2020 Summer Olympics, which actually took place in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic that altered travel, live events, and every other facet of life.

For the first time, Olympians who arrived at Tokyo’s Olympic Village in 2021 found bedframes that were made of cardboard in their rooms. In 2024, the Olympians found the same types of beds in their rooms in Paris, France.

Paris announced that Airweave, a Japanese company, would be the “official bedding partner” of the 2024 Games. This is the same company that provided the beds for the Tokyo games.

Tom Daley, a British springboard diver, posted a look at his room on his Instagram account when he arrived at the Olympic Village. Daley posted a caption that read “There is always a lot of talk about the beds in the Olympic Village, so here is what they look like,” along with a video that showed his bed, which was made of cardboard boxes.

Other athletes have posted videos and pictures of their rooms, and the presence of cardboard beds is evident in virtually all of them. Some of the athletes make jokes about the cardboard beds, while others seem genuinely annoyed by what appears to be a “cheap” approach to accommodating the athletes.

Myths About the Cardboard Beds

There are a couple of common misconceptions surrounding these beds. Before we delve into why exactly the 2024 Paris Olympics are continuing the use of cardboard bedding, it’s a good idea to clear up some common myths that surround both the function of these beds and their purpose.

First of all, when using the phrase “cardboard beds,” we’re actually referencing the bedframes.

You can find countless pictures of the beds that are used in the Olympic Village, each of which has a mattress, a mattress topper, and all of the traditional covers that you would expect to see on a bed.

In the same vein, your bedframe has wood or metal side rails that are connected by the same or a similar material.

In the Olympic Village, these frames are made of cardboard. When the mattress and mattress topper are removed, the sides of the bed look like cardboard boxes, while the mattress and topper are supported by a layer of shorter boxes.

If the bedding is on these cardboard beds, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re made of cardboard. Instead, they largely resemble a modern piece of furniture that you could find in any store.

The purpose of these beds has also been the source of a lot of misinformation. When the beds were initially put into place before the Tokyo Summer Olympics, a story hit the media that claimed that these beds were put into place to prevent the athletes from engaging in any type of sexual activity.

In fact, they became known as the “Olympic anti-sex beds.”

There were memes on the internet, jokes on late-night TV shows, and more revolving around this concept. It was quite controversial at the time.

By and large, this theory started with a social media post made by Paul Chelimo, an American track and field athlete. Chelimo shared photos of the bed and shared his theory that the beds were deliberately designed to be unsteady for the purpose of, "avoiding intimacy among athletes." The jokes seemed to write themselves.

However, Rhys McClenaghan, an Irish gymnast, quickly debunked this theory by posting videos of himself jumping up and down on his bed.

Why Do the Olympics Use Cardboard Beds?

Now that we’ve debunked two of the most popular myths surrounding the cardboard beds at the Olympics, let’s dive into the true purpose behind them.

In a time when most major companies are looking for ways to lessen their carbon footprints, the Olympics have gotten on board by trying to cut down on the amount of harm that they’re doing to the environment.

So much of the Olympics do unavoidable harm. Athletes, delegates, coaches, media members, and spectators fly from all over the globe to be a part of the games.

There are also more people staying in hotels, more people eating at restaurants that may not have green initiatives in place, and more. With this in mind, the Olympics are actively looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly.

One of these ways is to use cardboard bedframes. First of all, it’s much easier to transport these beds from their manufacturing center in Japan than it is to bring in traditional beds which are larger and bulkier.

There’s also a manufacturing cost to consider, as purchasing enough traditional beds for the thousands of athletes who participate in the Olympics would be quite a financial burden.

Additionally, there’s the matter of figuring out what to do with used bedframes once the Olympics come to an end. Secondly, once the Games come to an end, the beds are then recycled and turned into a variety of paper products.

Let the Games Begin

Yes, Olympic athletes are sleeping on cardboard bed frames. However, they’re also sleeping on mattresses and toppers made by Airweave, the same company that provides the cardboard frames.

The frames are not used to discourage athletes from being intimate with one another. Instead, it is a way to make the Olympics more environmentally friendly.