Taiwanese table tennis player seen on “anti-sex” cardboard bed in Olympic Village | Taiwan News

Taipei (Taiwan News) – On Monday (July 19), Taiwanese table tennis athlete Chuang Chih-yuan () posted a picture of himself sitting on one of the controversial cardboard beds in an Olympic village.

As Taiwanese web writers became enraged about the Spartan conditions of badminton star Tai Tzu-Ying’s () room at the Marroad Inn in Tokyo, the image of Chuang’s even more modest accommodation in the Olympic Village spread on social media. Chuang, known as “the godfather of Taiwan’s table tennis,” will compete in his fifth Olympics.

Chuang announced on his Facebook page on Monday that he had arrived safely in Tokyo and wrote that he “did not dare to take off the mask until I got to my room”. He then posted a picture of his room in the Olympic Village and dining area.

Unlike badminton in the “Queen” Tai Room, which had two full beds, Chuang’s room appears to be half smaller and has two double beds separated from the infamous cardboard. American long-distance runner Paul Chelimo has speculated on Twitter that the beds “sought to avoid intimacy among athletes.”

Soon the beds became known on social media as “anti-sex” beds. However, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan on her Twitter page refuted the notion that the beds were dim by jumping hard up and down on her cardboard bed.

The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics demand that the beds be “sturdy” and that they be “converted into recycled paper after the Games.”

Chuang’s post has received over 4,000 likes and 196 comments. Most network users left words of encouragement, but many also expressed concerns about the size and robustness of the bed:

“The bed looks so small …”

“You do a lot of hard work. The bed looks so small and doesn’t look very comfortable. I hope the competitors can rest well.”

“The resources given to them are really weak. How can they stretch and relax in such a small bed?”

“I heard there’s corrugated cardboard underneath. Be careful when you sleep at night.”

“This room looks much better [than Tai’s]. Jiayou Chuang! “

The beds to be installed in the Tokyo Olympic Village are made of cardboard to avoid the proximity of athletes

The beds can support the weight of one person to avoid situations outside of sports.

I don’t see any problems for runners, even four of us can do pic.twitter.com/J45wlxgtSo

– Paul Chelimo (@Paulchelimo) July 17, 2021

Anti-sex beds at the Olympics pic.twitter.com/2jnFm6mKcB

– Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) July 18, 2021