Athletes Will Sleep on Cardboard Beds at Tokyo Summer Olympics
It’s a sad reality that millions of homeless people around the world have grown accustomed to sleeping on cardboard, but this isn’t a hardship most Olympic athletes are used to enduring.
That’s about to change, though, as the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics just announced that all athletes will be sleeping on cardboard beds that are “stronger than wooden beds,” the manager of Tokyo’s Athletes Village tells the AP. The recyclable cardboard beds, which have never been used before, are capable of safely sleeping a person who weighs up to 440 pounds.
Organizers showed off the beds and a few other furnishings on Thursday at their headquarters. “The organizing committee was thinking about recyclable items, and the bed was one of the ideas,” Kitajima explained, crediting local Olympic sponsor Airweave Inc. for the execution. Organizers say this is the first time the beds and bedding in the athletes village have been made of renewable materials.