Irish Olympian says ‘cardboard’ anti-sex beds at Tokyo athletes village are fake news

Rhys McClenaghan
PA
Leah Sinclair20 July 2021

An Irish Olympian has dispelled rumours that cardboard beds in Tokyo’s athletes' village were designed to prevent competitors from having sex.

Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan took to social media to prove how robust the cardboard beds are, posting a video of him jumping up and down on the bed, while calling the rumours “fake news”.

"In today’s episode of fake news at the Olympic Games, the beds that are meant to be anti-sex,” he said.

"They are made out of cardboard, yes, apparently they are meant to break under any sudden movements."

The official Olympics account retweeted the short clip, thanking Mr McClenaghan for “debunking the myth”.

The cardboard beds are not designed to prevent intimacy but were introduced by the Tokyo Olympics to encourage sustainability.

Athletes have been advised not to mix with other nations at the Olympic Village and that Covid-19 protocols have to be observed at all times.

A number of athletes, officials and journalists have already tested positive for Covid-19, with Game officials recording 58 positive cases as of July 2.

Discussing the rise in cases, Kenji Shibuya, the former director of the Population Health at King’s College London, said “it’s obvious that the bubble system is kind of broken”.

"My biggest concern is, of course, there will be a cluster of infections in the village or some of the accommodation and interaction with local people."

New Covid-19 cases in Tokyo reached 1,410 on Saturday, a near six month high.

Just 33 per cent of people in Japan have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, among the lowest rate among wealthy countries, according to a Reuters tracker.

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