cardboard box springs and modular mattresses… The athletes’ beds unveiled

2023-07-13 14:54:31

By Le Figaro with AFP

Posted 2 minutes ago, Just updated

The Japanese company Airweave presented on Thursday the beds that will be made available to athletes in Paris during the Olympic Games.

As at the Tokyo Olympics, the beds for the athletes of the Paris Olympics will be made up of a cardboard bed base and a modular mattress according to their morphology and their needs.

The model, almost the same as the one used in Japan in 2021, was shown to the press on Thursday in the presence of the CEO of the Japanese company Airweave. Moreover, Motokuni Takaoka didn’t hesitate to jump with both feet and bounce on one of the two exposed mattresses to show his resistance.

«They can support several people on it“, he assured, what can happen “when you win a medal“, he explained.

Solid and recyclable

The mattress is in three blocks and can be modulated via these blocks, depending on the needs. Each athlete, according to his measurements, will be offered the formula that suits him best, and can interchange the blocks as he sees fit.

For the older ones, extensions to 2.20 meters long are also planned.

The cardboard box springmade from 80% recycled materialwill be assembled in France, said the chairman of the Olympic Games organizing committee (Cojo), Tony Estanguet. There have been “great feedback from Tokyo“, he explained, adding that the choice of this company also corresponds to the social and environmental objectives that the Cojo has set itself.

Read alsoJO 2024: “Half the tickets are 50 euros or less”, Estanguet persists and signs

After the Olympics, the cardboard box springs will be recycled while the mattresses and pillows will be donated to schools or associations.

This beddingcan change the color of the medals!“, boasted the CEO of the company. As for Tony Estanguet, he recalled “the importance of sleep» for athletes in the context of such a competition.

The Organizing Committee must take the keys to the Olympic Village in March 2024 to install everything necessary. The 16,000 beds, which will also be delivered to the media village in Dugny where a few hundred journalists will be installed (audiovisual center), will be delivered between March and June 2024.