How many athletes does it take to break the Olympic Village’s infamous “cardboard” beds?
Team Israel put to rest the Games’ most vexing question: nine.
Ben Wanger from the Israeli national baseball team put the limit to the test Monday after the beds were rumored to only be strong enough to handle one athlete, to discourage sex in the notoriously sex-crazed athletes’ village.
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“Been getting a lot of questions about the beds in the Olympic Village, so today we’re gonna check and see how many Israelis it takes to break one of these cardboard beds,” Wanger says in a viral TikTok video which racked up nearly half a million views by Tuesday.
First, the pitcher jumped on the bed alone and when it failed to break, more Team Israel athletes joined in one by one, simultaneously jumping on the structure until it finally gave in and collapsed under the weight of nine Olympians.
The idea that the beds, which can hold up to 440 pounds, were constructed with cardboard to discourage sex has been repeatedly squashed by a number of athletes and the beds’ manufacturer Airweave.
Content about the Olympic beds have become pervasive on TikTok — the hashtag “cardboard bed” has already seen more than 5 million views.
