TOKYO|
A video posted on social media showing nine members of Israel’s Olympic baseball team destroying a bed at the Olympic Village has gone viral after Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported on the post.
The bed frames in the Olympic Village are made from cardboard, which was adopted as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional bed frames, but several athletes have expressed concern about the durability of the beds.
According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, a member of Israel’s baseball team posted the video on TikTok and other sites. The video showed a player jumping on a bed, with other players joining in one by one until the bed breaks under the weight of nine players.
A shot of the broken bed appears at the end of the video.
"נראה כמה ישראלים צריך כדי לשבור את אחת ממיטות הקרטון": סרטון טיקטוק שהעלה שחקן נבחרת הבייסבול של ישראל לטוקיו 2020, בן ווגנר, מראה את שחקני הנבחרת "בוחנים" את עמידות המיטות בכפר האולימפי, כשהם קופצים על אחת המיטות בחדר עד שהיא נשברת@lianwildau pic.twitter.com/ATfDU70lww
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 27, 2021
The post has since been deleted from the athlete’s account.The video has sparked criticism on Twitter, with users slamming the “childish prank” and the players’ “shameful behavior.” One Twitter user noted that all of the services in the village are being paid for by Japanese taxpayers despite the country’s stagnant economy.
Airweave Inc., the manufacturer of the beds, said the frames withstood up to 200 kilograms in durability tests.
An Airweave spokesperson said the company factored in the possibility during testing that “some medalists would jump up on the bed with excitement,” but they had not anticipated as many as nine athletes would jump on the bed at the same time.“It is unfortunate that the video went viral. But more importantly, we’re glad that the athletes were not injured,” the spokesperson said.