Hundreds of top athletes worldwide will gather in Tokyo for the Olympics, and many will sleep on cardboard beds during their stay in the athletes’ village.

Rumors swirled around the rationale of using such material, but the official reasoning from spokespeople at the Summer Games is because of the cardboard’s 100 percent recyclable material.

Cardboard beds for Athletes at Olympic village. The bed frames will be recycled into paper products after the games. The mattress components not made of cardboard and will be recycled into plastic products. #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/MRIVdYoDqj

— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) July 18, 2021

Ali Riley, who’ll compete for New Zealand in women’s soccer, shared a video of her cardboard bed, and I cannot believe it says on the packaging, “better sleep, better performance.”

That’s outrageously funny. Sleeping on a new or different mattress than the one you’re accustomed to feels difficult enough.

Imagine sleeping on something as stiff as cardboard?

Yes, the beds are actually cardboard boxes 📦 @sydneyleroux you could make one from all your Amazon packages 💋 pic.twitter.com/zKzu2Lo00V

— Ali Riley (@RileyThree) July 17, 2021

It’s hilarious visualizing how Team USA basketball player and Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant will be able to sleep on a bed like this possibly.

Competitive Advantage

Simone Biles and her gymnastics teammates won’t have to worry because they’re staying at a hotel.

We all know how important a role proper sleep plays in sports performance, so it’ll be interesting to see how the athletes who sleep on cardboard beds perform compared to the athletes who have access to better accommodations.

Doesn’t it feel a tad unfair?

Congratulations on qualifying and making it to the Olympics.

You’ve worked years for the opportunity to win a gold medal.

Now, enjoy sleeping on a cardboard bed.

It’s Been A Lot Worse

Add cardboard beds to the long list of inexcusable living accommodations for both the athletes and journalists in the history of the Olympics.

Recall the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, when Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St.Clair posted on Twitter, the color of the tap water at her hotel:

Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi #unfiltered pic.twitter.com/sQWM0vYtyz

— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014

She shared that the hotel also told its guests not to wash their faces with water from the tap because it contained something dangerous.

Several other journalists at the Olympics in Sochi shared photos of broken curtains in both the bed and bathrooms at their hotels, but it’s nothing a little tape can’t solve:

Hey @SochiProblems do I get a little credit for solving one? http://t.co/gyKi1gORXA pic.twitter.com/r7tXzBtE2z

— Steve Politi (@StevePoliti) February 7, 2014

BBC News correspondent Steve Rosenberg shared a curious-looking bathroom set-up at one of the venue sites from Sochi seven years ago too:

Seeing double in the Gentlemen's Loo at the Olympic Biathlon Centre #Sochi pic.twitter.com/a1HoilU9zn

— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) January 20, 2014

And Greg Whyshynski of ESPN posted a photo from a restroom at the same Olympics, instructing him to discard his used toilet paper in the trash.

People have asked me what surprised me the most here in Sochi. It's this. Without question ... it's ... THIS. pic.twitter.com/1jj05FNdCP

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 4, 2014

Would you please use the bin and not the toilet in toilet paper?

Fast forward to two years later in Rio de Janeiro; Associated Press sports writer Stephen Wade found himself without a usable shower at his living quarters in the media village:

First attempted shower in room at media village. No hot water and shower head fell off. #RoadToRio pic.twitter.com/bUfxLKh4A6

— Stephen Wade (@StephenWadeAP) August 1, 2016

It’s amazing how billions of dollars go into building stadiums and iconic sites around host cities for the Olympics, but the most elite athletes from all around the globe sleep on something as cheap as cardboard.