2024 Paris Olympics: Surfers Skip Cardboard Beds for Floating Village in Tahiti

Surfers didn’t see the cardboard bed news because they were not in Paris. 

Indeed, some athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics will not be staying in the city of love.  All the Olympic surfers will be staying in the French island of Tahiti during the games—nearly 10,000 miles from the rest of the action. 

Still, German surfer Tim Elter shared an inside look at his and fellow surfers’ digs proves that they’re hanging 10 out of 10 in the Polynesian island. In fact, the athlete showed off his room aboard the cruise ship, Aranui 5—which is housing all of the surfers for the next two weeks—in a July 21 TikTok. 

In addition to having a full-sized—and not cardboard—bed, Tim’s room is equipped with a balcony overlooking the water and greenery that Tahiti offers. Fans were also quick to note the great end of the stick that the Olympic surfers got with their accommodations, citing its views, bed, the air conditioning and, of course, privacy. 

“Athletes in Paris will be shook when they see this,” one fan commented, prompting Tim to reply with a few laughing emojis and add, “They will.”

Docked near Teahupo’o, a remote village on Tahiti’s coast, the Aranui 5 is housing 48 athletes who will compete across 10 surfing events. Due to 2024 Paris Olympics regulations, the cruise ship was the only possible accommodation for the surfers, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Why? Well, the Olympic villages must be within 45 minutes of their competition grounds, and Tahiti has no hotels or residences big enough to equip the visiting surfers within those parameters. In addition to its 105 spacious living compartments, the Aranui 5 holds a restaurant, four bars, two conference rooms, two lounges, a dance room and a library, according to the ship’s website. 

Meanwhile, the more than 14,000 athletes competing in Paris are put up in less glamorous housing. As British Olympic diver Tom Daley showed off on TikTok, they have once again been given the infamous cardboard beds in their own Seine-Saint-Denis village. 

Despite rumors, the cardboard beds are not so the Olympians won’t have sex with each other. 

“The funny part is, there was no truth to that," The COO of the Japanese company that manufactures the iconic beds, Brett Thornton, told E! News recently, before joking the anti-sex label was a “blessing in disguise.” 

Noting the sustainability factor of its easy cleaning and recycling abilities, Thornton added of the beds, “This is the first time there's been actually something totally different or unique.”