Olympics
Athletes to sleep on cardboard beds at Paris 2024 Olympics
The head of Japanese mattress manufacturer Airweave has boasted about the robustness of the cardboard beds that are due to be used during next year’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.
About 16,000 beds are set to be provided by Airweave for athletes housed at the Olympic and Paralympic Villages in Saint-Denis and Châteauroux where shooting is due to be held as well as for journalists at the Media Village in Dugny.
It will be the second successive Games in which Airweave will supply beds having been the provider at Tokyo 2020.
The cardboard beds caused a stir on social media in 2021 with claims that Tokyo 2020 organisers were being “anti-sex”.
During the Games, videos went viral on TikTok of Olympic athletes jumping on the beds to test their robustness.
About 16,000 cardboard beds are set to be provided by Airweave for Paris 2024 ©Airweave
Motokuni Takaoka, founder and President of Airweave, also jumped on the beds to demonstrate their durability when presenting the mattresses for Paris 2024, insisting that they were “very strong”.
“We have designed these carboard bed for three or four people jumping because after getting a medal people get very happy,” said Takaoka in a video posted by Reuters.
The standard size of a bed is 90 centimetres wide and 200cm long but can be extended to 2.20m for taller athletes.
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet said he was pleased the beds which had been largely made from recycled material met the Organising Committee’s sustainability aspirations.
“We were impressed by Airweave’s technology,” said Estanguet in a report by French newspaper L’Équipe.
“We know that we have a solid partner in terms of delivery.”
The announcement of Airweave’s beds for Paris 2024 comes during the Chefs de Mission Seminar staged over the next few days in the French capital.
-insidethegames
The Olympic rings installed on the Eiffel Tower since June to celebrate the upcoming Olympic Games were removed from the Parisian monument early on Friday morning, as confirmed by an AFP photographer. But the Paris City Hall intends to replace them with a more permanent structure until 2028.
The five-coloured rings, measuring 29 metres in length and 15 metres in height, were placed between the first and second levels of the iconic iron structure on 7 June.
According to Inside the Games publication, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants the Olympic symbol to continue decorating the monument until the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
But the descendants of the tower’s creator, Gustave Eiffel are opposing the move. They are insisting that the Olympic rings are aesthetically in conflict with the concept and design of the Tower.
The 30-tonne rings initially installed on the Eiffel Tower were also not designed to withstand winter weather conditions.
Olympics
Despite Egypt winning 3 medals at Paris Olympics, President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participatedat the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.
The mandate includes a thorough expenditure check and a performance review to better highlight areas of improvement and fund allocation in future Games.
Additionally, the president plans to take necessary measures against federations —such as limiting funds— that had negative results in the Paris Games.
Egypt’s participation in sports where it lacks a competitive advantage will also be limited, as the president aims to direct resources to promising athletes to ensure optimal results. The president also aims to reduce administrative and technical staff within Olympic delegations and task relevant ministries with preparing future Olympic athletes.
Al-Sisi’s Olympic overhaul is to be presented to the cabinet for approval and urged the government to prioritise amending the sports law for the House of Representatives for review.
Egypt took home a total of three medals in the Summer Games. Ahmed El-Gendy triumphed in modern pentathlon, Sara Samir claimed the silver in weightlifting, and 21-year-old fencer Mohamed El-Sayed earned the bronze.
-Insidethegames
Paris 2024 sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, beating the Games record previously set by London 2012, organisers said on Sunday.
Some 9.5 million tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2.5 million for the Paralympics, which end on Sunday.
In 2012, London organisers set the record for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold but only 8.2 million were sold for the Olympics.
-Reuters
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