Paul Chelimo: Cardboard Beds at Tokyo Olympics Is to Avoid Athletes Being Intimate

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American long-distance runner Paul
Chelimo said the beds in the Olympic Village for the Summer Games in
Tokyo have been constructed to prevent intimacy among athletes amid
COVID-19 restrictions.

Chelimo, who captured a silver medal in
the men’s 5,000-meter race at the 2016 Rio Games, provided a look at
the cardboard beds Friday on Twitter:

“At this point, I will have to start
practicing how to sleep on the floor; cause if my bed collapses and I
have no training on sleeping on the floor I’m done,” Chelimo wrote in the light-hearted Twitter thread. “More added stress heading into Tokyo!”

In June, Justin McCurry of The Guardian
reported Tokyo organizers ordered the traditional 160,000 condoms for
the Games, but also updated the Olympic playbook to say athletes must “avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact.” 

Athletes who break the
social-distancing guidelines in Japan face potential penalties that
include fines, disqualification or deportation, per McCurry.

In 2012, Sam Alipour of ESPN The
Magazine provided details from former Olympic athletes and organizers
about the not-so-secret fact the Olympic Village is typically quite a
party during the Games.

“I’m running a friggin’ brothel in
the Olympic Village! I’ve never witnessed so much debauchery in my
entire life,” Josh Lakatos, a member of Team USA at the 1996 and
2000 Games, said.

Taylor Phinney, a two-time Olympic
cyclist, said he was having so much fun in the Village at the
2008 Beijing Games he lost focus on his actual reason for being there.

“This is going to sound stupid,
but I almost forgot I had to race,” Phinney told Alipour.

Tokyo organizers are clearly doing
everything in their power to avoid that type of atmosphere this time
around as the country faces a surge in COVID-19 cases ahead of
Friday’s opening ceremony.