Settling into the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Village should be a bed of roses, right? Well, Simone Biles and her gymnastics squad are finding it a bit thorny, literally and figuratively! A quirky issue has popped up: the infamous anti-s*x cardboard beds! These beds, made of recycled cardboard, first made headlines in 2021 when rumors swirled that they were designed to discourage athletes from getting too cozy with each other. This time around, comfort—or the lack thereof—is the real villain!

Enter Simone Biles’ coach, Cecile Landi, spilling the tea. On X, Gymnastics Now shared a post about how Cecile didn’t mince words after podium practice, saying, “We’re getting mattress tops today – hallelujah! So that we’ll sleep better. It’s a little hard, not gonna lie… The girls were super happy [about that]… It’s just a little hard, so we just need a little bit of comfort.”

The real kicker? Cecile sat on one of those beds and immediately went, “OOH! Oh my god.” And reinforcements were called in ASAP! Thanks to USAG teaming up with BedJet, all the gymnasts are getting not just mattress toppers but also a fancy bed cooling system. And that’s not all—Simone Biles was excited about this new addition too!

This post was quoted with an attached post by Planet of Gymnastics, featuring two shared screenshots. In one screen grab, Dana Joelle asked the burning question, “Do all of the athletes ACTUALLY stay in those beds?? can someone who is there tell me??? In the Olympic village??” The second image was a screenshot of a comment by Simone Biles herself, who chimed in with a candid, “The bed sucks…… BUT we are getting mattress toppers so hopefully it’ll get better.” But did you know this is not the first time Team USA has proven they’re ready to tackle anything thrown their way for the comfort of their athletes?

Simone Biles and Team USA athletes are ‘coolly’ chasing gold at the Paris Olympics

Paris, in its green crusade, decided to ditch air conditioning in the village, betting on a geothermal water system to keep things cool. It sounds fancy, but with the European summer heat ready to scorch everything in its path, athletes were sweating bullets over this! Not to be defeated, Team USA and other savvy nations took matters into their own hands, hauling in portable AC units for their athletes. Cue Suni Lee, who took to social media to share a sneak peek into her and Jordan Chiles’ cozy quarters.

Imagine this: a tiny cubicle, a “cardboard” bed, a single pillow, a tiny closet, and the star of the show—a portable AC unit. During a June 21 briefing, Sarah Hirschland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, made it clear that Team USA is definitely not sweating the heat in Paris. She shared how they had great respect for the work done by the Paris Organizing Committee and their focus on sustainability, but said, “Yes, we will have air conditioners.” She emphasized that it’s all about giving U.S. athletes what they need to perform at their peak.

Every single U.S. room and some common areas are getting portable AC units, so Team USA can keep cool, even though Paris is only expected to hit the low 90s over the next 10 days. And they’re not the only ones cooling off; out of 7,000 rooms in the village, 2,500 have been fitted with mobile air conditioners, thanks to teams’ requests. With the Games often being the biggest competition of their lives, some National Olympic Committees decided to go all in on mobile air conditioning units, covering the costs themselves.

Paris 2024 is also stepping in to help by providing air conditioners for Paralympic athletes. Since many athletes will be competing at night and trying to rest during the hottest parts of the day, the decision to invest in air conditioning was a no-brainer. Matt Carroll from the Australian Olympic Committee understood the environmental angle of skipping air conditioning but said, “However, it is a high-performance Games. We’re not going for a picnic.” Clearly, Team USA is doing everything it can to keep its athletes comfy and ready to go for gold! What do you think about Simone Biles and the gymnastics team’s latest setup with their beds? Drop your thoughts in the comments!