Beijing Olympics outdoes Tokyo with remote controlled beds instead of cardboard
The planners for the 2022 Beijing Olympics must have taken notes during last year's Summer Games in Tokyo. In their Olympic Village, there isn't a cardboard bed in sight.
Summer Britcher, a U.S. luge athlete and two-time Olympian, recently showed off the beds athletes will be sleeping in at the Olympic Village over the next few weeks. While the beds at Tokyo's Olympic Village were cardboard, the beds in Beijing are remote controlled and not made of cardboard. In a Tik Tok video, Britcher demonstrated the luxe beds.
Britcher made the video in response to a fan question about the athlete accommodations at the Beijing Olympics.
"I am so excited you asked this question because I have something incredible to share," Britcher said. "Because not only do we not have cardboard beds here, but it's as if the Beijing organizing committee said, 'How can we just absolutely just one up Tokyo?'"
Britcher can be seen using the bed in the video, which appears to have eight settings, including one for zero-gravity sleeping, which helps athletes repair and recover.
One of the biggest stories at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was the cardboard beds in the Olympic Village. Athletes were not thrilled with them, and some likely won't be thrilled to hear that Winter Olympians have much nicer accommodations.
U.S. rugby player Ilona Maher, who went to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, shared her reaction to the remote controlled beds on Tik Tok, complete with mock-crying.
"Your... Your bed has a whole remote to it? It has modes? How big is it? It looks pretty big," Maher said as she amped up the fake emotion.
"Our beds in Tokyo were like, only like that big," she said, holding her thumb and forefinger a few inches apart. "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."
Winter Olympians will be well rested thanks to their non-cardboard beds by the time the Games start on Friday, Feb. 4.
