A female athlete has revealed that the Olympic Village in Paris is not the gold medal hotspot that pop culture makes it out to be.
Emily Delleman, a rower for the U.S. Olympic team, posted a video on TikTok about her experiences as a single athlete during the Games. She talks about how dating apps are a ghost town, despite being filled with the world’s best competitors.
“So far, most things have exceeded my expectations: the food, the atmosphere, the sheer ambiance, the excitement… everything except this one thing,” Delleman said.
Delleman said she was relaxing in the infamous “anti-sex” cardboard beds after recovering from one of her workouts when she saw a single woman on TikTok encouraging others to change their location on Tinder to the Olympic Village in order to be matched with beautiful athletes.
Delleman hadn’t been on Tinder in years and said the dating app already had “hype” from the ability to match with potential gold medalists.
Emily Delleman, an Olympic rower for Team USA, posted a video on TikTok about her experience as a lone athlete at the games
Delleman said she was relaxing in the infamous “anti-sex” cardboard beds after recovering from one of her workouts when she saw a single woman on TikTok encouraging others to change their location on Tinder to the Olympic Village to match with hot athletes.
“I was getting more and more excited, the expectations were getting higher and higher,” she said, describing how she had spruced up her profile to show off her athletic prowess as a competitor in this year’s competition.
But when she started scrolling, she said there were hardly any other athletes on the app.
“I started scrolling and scrolling and I didn’t see any Olympians. I was like, ‘Okay, my (location) settings are probably weird,’” she said, even though she had limited her location to a one-mile radius around the Olympic Village.
“So far I think I’ve seen two other Olympians in total,” she continued. “Don’t get me wrong. You Parisian men are beautiful… but I went in expecting to find some of my future storylines.”
The Olympic Games begin Friday night in the City of Light, but organizers are reportedly trying to discourage sexual activity between athletes during the Games.
It is common knowledge that athletes have had sexual relations at previous Olympic Games. There are reports that Durex will provide them with 200,000 condoms over the next three weeks.
While Olympic organizers see the cardboard beds as a symbol of sustainability, the focus today is more on the athletes’ experiences and the vibrant social life in the Olympic Village.
Delleman, who hasn’t been on Tinder in years, said the dating app already “hyped” that it’s possible to match with potential gold medalists, but she said she’s barely seen any athletes on the app
Athletes sharing their stories candidly have only added to the buzz surrounding sex culture at the Games.
For example, Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan showed that the bed frames were much sturdier than advertised.
In a video on Instagram, the horse rider said: ‘I’m at the Olympics in Paris and they have those cardboard ‘anti-sex beds’ again.
“When I tested them last time, they passed my tests. Maybe I wasn’t strict enough.”
The 25-year-old then tested the bed by jumping around on it, doing handstands and somersaults.
Despite the extra weight he put on the bed, the frame did not move.
McClenaghan concluded: ‘No, they pass the test. It’s fake, it’s fake news!’
Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan tested the strength of Olympic ‘anti-sex beds’
Team GB diving icon Tom Daley previously tested the beds in a video he posted on TikTok.
After sharing some close-ups of the bed frame, Daley, 30, began jumping up and down on his mattress, saying, “As you can see, they’re pretty firm.”
Israeli baseball player Ben Wanger also posted a video on TikTok in which he jumps on the bed without breaking it.
Wanger later deleted his video, but in it he had said the following: “We actually like sleeping on these beds and think they are a great and sustainable option for future Olympic Games.”
However, the cardboard beds do not appear to be popular with all athletes.
Australian water polo player Tilly Kearns and her teammate Gabi Palm seem less impressed.
“I’ve already had a massage to undo the damage,” Kearns groaned via social media.
Kearns also uploaded a video, which began with the words, “Night one on the cardboard beds.”
In the background, Palm was heard saying, “My back is going to come off.”
As he tried to adjust the bed, Kearns added, “It’s actually rock hard. You can move it around a little bit, apparently there’s a softer side.”
After turning the mattress over, a disappointed Kearns grunted, “That was the soft side.”
McClenaghan hopes to leave Paris with a first Olympic medal and has a good chance of success having won two world championships, three European championships and a Commonwealth championship on the pommel horse.