Tokyo Olympics is less than a week away. The door to the Games Village opened for athletes on July 13. Several teams will enter the Village in the next two days, adhering to Covid-19 protocols. Despite local protests, IOC officials have stuck to their decision to start the event on July 23.
Living up to their promise of a sustainable Games, the organizers have made recycling a big part of the Tokyo Olympics. Perhaps taking this too far, athletes will be accommodated in rooms with cardboard beds.
Takashi Kitajima, the general manager of the Athletes Village, has claimed that the bed can hold 440 pounds (200 Kg). Japanese mattress manufacturer Airweave made a total of 18,000 cardboard beds for the Olympics and Paralympics teams. These were ready in January 2020, but the year-long pandemic resulted in the Games being postponed.
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The cardboard frames were made to be recycled after the games. The beds would also help maintain social distancing protocols, as it aims to not let two athletes get intimate with each other.
While talking about the beds, Kitajima said," Of course, wood and cardboard would each break if you jumped on them."
Twitter reactions to cardboard beds at Tokyo Olympics
Paul Chelimo, the 5000m silver medalist at Rio, tweeted:
"I see no problem for distance runners, even 4 of us can do."
In another tweet, Chelimo added:
" Those who pee on the bed are at risk here, once the carton box is wet the bed falls over. Especially it will suck if its a night before finals."