2024 Paris Olympics: Cardboard beds are back at the Olympic Village with mixed reviews from athletes

The cardboard beds from the 2020 Tokyo Games will once again be used at the Olympic Village during the 2024 Paris Games. The beds are part of a sustainability effort and they are expected to be "fully recycled after the Games."

When the beds first came out, American track and field runner Paul Chelimo shared pictures of them and suggested they were unsteady for the purpose of "avoiding intimacy among athletes." However, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan has debunked this by posting a video of himself aggressively jumping on one of the beds.

The beds, which organizers claim are 100% made in France, are made to withstand the stress of up to 550 pounds in weight. They are also customizable with three modules that allow athletes to choose the firmness level of the mattress. The frames can extend to make the bed longer.

Despite the fact that the beds have proven to be sturdy, they are still not very popular with all the athletes. Interestingly enough, the cardboard part itself might not be the problem. Most of the complaints seem to be regarding how the mattress is not very soft. The mattresses, made by Airweave, consist of AirFiber and are meant to be "a luxury firm bed."

"When you're sleeping at night and you're in memory foam and it's time to turn, you actually have to put so much effort to turn that you wake up from a deep sleep," COO Brett Thornton told ENews. "You come out of deep REM and then it takes you another five minutes to get back in."

The way the plastic fibers come together are also supposed to help cool down the body temperature, which in theory would help athletes fall asleep faster. However, athletes seem more focused on comfort rather than the technology behind their beds.

Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns said in a TikTok video that the mattress was "rock hard," even when using the softest side. She is not the only one who felt this way.

Nick Mayhugh, a track and field star who won three gold medals and one silver in the Tokyo Paralympics, wasn't a huge fan in 2021 but is taking matters into his own hands this year.

"Knowing that Paris is going to have the cardboard beds again -- the 'anti-sex' beds, which is not what they are for -- they are very uncomfortable," he told CBS Sports. "So I think I'm going to Amazon order a mattress topper and have it shipped there so I can be more comfortable than I was in Tokyo. But maybe I should sleep uncomfortably. Maybe that's why I won four medals."

Chari Hawkins will be making her Olympic debut in heptathlon, but she has heard enough about the beds that she is also planning on doing some shopping.

"As soon as I get to Paris, I am going on a hunt to find a nice pillow and comforter," she said. "I saw the beds in the Olympic Village and I want to make sure that I can have a great night's sleep."

The beds are only one of many other decisions made with sustainability in mind. France is also not offering air conditioners in the Olympic Village. However, the United States and a few other countries will be providing portable air conditioning for their athletes.

The Paris 2024 Olympic organizers set the goal to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from previous Summer Games by half and also offset any residual emissions in order to achieve carbon neutrality. This is all in alignment with the Paris Agreement, which has an ambitious goal to reduce local emissions by 100% by 2050.