Olympic diver Tom Daley shared a glimpse at the infamous “anti-sex” beds, rumored to not be able to withstand sexual activity, upon his arrival in Paris for the 2024 Games.
In a video posted to TikTok on Monday, July 22, the British gold medalist showed off the details of the “cardboard” bed he’ll be sleeping in. “As you can see, it’s like a box,” he explained, rapping his knuckles on the headboard.
He then examined the bed’s thin mattress, and zoomed in on the bed’s foundation, which also appeared to be constructed of boxes. A mattress topper and “Paris 2024” branded comforter completed the setup.
Daley then put the bed’s strength to the test, jumping up and down and bouncing on his knees to see if it would hold up – which it did. “As you can see, they’re pretty sturdy,” he noted.
@tomdaley CARBOARD BEDS IN THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE! #paris2024 #olympics
Daley isn’t the only Olympian to test out the beds’ purported “anti-sex” qualities. Several other athletes posted their experiments with the beds, including Australian tennis stars Daria Saville and Ellen Perez — who pummeled one with step-ups, a “racquet smash,” “volley practice” and even a cannonball leap — and Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, who noted he’d already tested them successfully at 2020’s Tokyo Games.
“When I tested them last time, they withstood my testing,” he explained in a TikTok. “Maybe I wasn’t rigorous enough.”
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Following an exhausting-looking series of body slams and somersaults, McClenaghan announced, “They passed the test. Fake! Fake news!”
The 100% recyclable cardboard beds, designed by the Japanese company Airweave, made their debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with some athletes looking askance at their introduction.
“Beds to be installed in Tokyo Olympic Village will be made of cardboard, this is aimed at avoiding intimacy among athletes,” American distance runner Paul Chelimo tweeted at the time.
“Beds will be able to withstand the weight of a single person to avoid situations beyond sports,” Chelimo continued, joking, “I see no problem for distance runners, even 4 of us can do.”
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Needless to say, sexual activity does not appear to be something Olympic officials are forbidding this summer. A whopping 300,000 condoms will be available in the Olympic Village, Laurent Michaud, director of the village, told Sky News. That works out to almost two condoms per day, for every day of the Games, for each athlete.
At the 2020 Olympics, where the beds first came into use, condoms were also distributed in the hundreds of thousands, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a strict social distancing protocol.
However, “Our intent and goal is not for athletes to use the condoms at the Olympic Village, but to help with awareness by taking them back to their own countries,” the Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee said in a statement to Japan Today at the time.
