Athletes tear apart Olympic Village beds and are stunned by what they find

Away from the sporting action, the Paris Olympics has made headlines for the beds provided to athletes in the Olympic Village accommodation.

There has been a lot of talk surrounding the 'anti-sex' beds that are made from cardboard, with athletes such as Team GB diver Tom Daley and Australian tennis players Daria Saville and Ellen Perez taking to TikTok to show what the beds look like as well as testing their strength by squat jumping.

(And they're pretty sturdy, having the ability to support up to 440lbs).

Meanwhile, Australian water poloist Tilly Kearns shared her "back is about to fall off” in a TikTok about the bed and added how she “Already had a massage to undo the damage”.

Now, Team USA volleyball player Chiaka Ogbog ( @chiakaogbogu_) was curious like most of us as to what the mattresses are actually made of and posted a TikTok to share what she discovered by taking apart her bed.

The beds were introduced as an eco-friendly initiative and will be recycled once the Olympics conclude on August 11 - so they weren't created for "anti-sex" purposes.

"Their use helps us reach our goals to divide total CO2 emissions by half compared to the previous Games," a Paris 2024 spokesperson told Euronews.

In Ogbog's video, she and her teammates looked at what the mattress material is made from, and it isn't your typical memory foam...

"In case y'all are wondering what these beds are actually made of...my mind is blown. It's not a real mattress! It's plastic!" she said.

Then added in the caption: "In case y'all are wondering what these beds are actually made of...my mind is blown. It's not a real mattress! It's plastic!"

The company behind the plastic mattress is Airweave , founded by inventor Motokuni Takaoka where Airfiber technology has been used for the Olympic beds.

This is where polyethylene strands are woven together to create a "responsive and breathable" bed fill.

“I was a marathon runner, so I appreciate how important it is to have a good sleep before an event," Takaoka said and added how it can support two to three people "no worries".

He added: "They are very robust. The cardboard base is very tough. They will cope with anything the athletes want to do with themselves or their friends."

Following the Games, the mattresses will be donated to the French Army and various other organisations including schools, Euronews reported.

However, viewers of Ogbogu's were split on the mattress's comfortability.

One person said: "Why do they treat it like a summer camp and not like these are OLYMPIANS."

"It really doesn’t look too bad lmao," another person said.

Someone else added: "It reminds me of those flip flops from the 90s/00s."

"I don't know what y'all expect, they have to house 1000s of people," a fourth person commented.

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel