The Beijing Olympic Village Beds Will Make Tokyo Athletes Jealous

There was certainly one athlete from last year’s games who was envious of Britcher and her high tech bed: U.S. rugby player Ilona Maher, who shared her hilarious reaction on TikTok.

“Your… Your bed has a whole remote to it? It has modes?” Maher said, getting progressively more emotional as she spoke. “How big is it? It looks pretty big.”

“Our beds in Tokyo were like, only like that big,” she said, making a small gesture with her thumb and forefinger. “And they were highly flammable. And very solid. They were very solid beds. My back hurt like, a week after I started laying on them.”

Fighting back fake tears, Maher added, “But have fun! That looks awesome. That looks so cool.”

Back at the 2020 Summer Olympics, there was frequent discussion surrounding the so-called “cardboard beds” at the Village, which began after U.S. runner Paul Chelimo tweeted an image of the lightweight bedframes and said that they could only “withstand the weight of a single person” as part of a plan to avoid “intimacy among athletes.” 

That thought process was later debunked by Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, who put the self-described “anti-sex” beds to the test by posting a video of himself gleefully jumping up and down on one. 

“Apparently they’re meant to break at any sudden movements,” McClenaghan said. When the bed did not break, he declared, “It’s fake! Fake news!”