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Tokyo Olympics introduces cardboard ‘anti sex beds’ to enforce social distancing

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In an unorthodox attempt to keep athletes socially distanced, the ‘anti sex beds’ will collapse under the weight of more than one person

You read that correctly: athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will basically be sleeping on a cardboard box to prevent any sexual activity. The ‘anti sex beds’ will collapse under more than 200kg.

With this in mind, the Olympic Games committee has also advised athletes to not use the customary Olympic Games condoms. Rather, they’ve told athletes that they can keep them as a memento. If you’re wondering why they’re giving them out at all if they can’t be used, you’re not the only one. Any athlete that breaks these rules could face disqualification.

In response to concerns over the beds, the manufacturer said that athletes should have no issue so long as they stick to one person per bed.

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A sustainable and fully recyclable alternative to regular beds

Allegedly, sleeping on cardboard is not only good at preventing sex, but also is environmentally-friendly. The cardboard beds will be recycled after use. Some Twitter users are pointing out that the beds were designed before Covid-19, so weren’t really created to prevent sex. that’s just a handy side-feature.

Takashi Kitajima, the general manager of the Athletes Village, told The Associated Press through an interpreter that the beds are stronger than wood.

In actual fact, the beds have some pretty high-tech features. Japanese company Airweave designed the beds. While the bed frame itself is made from cardboard, the modular mattresses are made from recyclable polyethylene fibres.

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“The concept was to make a lightweight, easy-to-assemble mattress and meet the Games’ Sustainability Plan,” Airweave told Dezeen.

The mattress is completely customisable, made from three seperate blocks zipped together. One to support the head and shoulders, one to support the waist and one to support the legs. Athletes can order the blocks in four different levels of firmness.

“Our signature modular mattress design allows for firmness customizations at the shoulder, waist and legs to achieve proper spine alignment and sleep posture, allowing for the highest level of personalization for each athlete’s unique body type,” Airweave said.

Covid-19 hits Tokyo athlete’s village

This comes after a person staying in the athlete’s village tested positive for Covid-19. The person, a non-athlete in their 60s, had only mild symptoms but was hospitalised because of their age and pre-existing conditions.

Organisers promise that the Games will be “safe and secure”.

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Football clubs like Manchester United are getting more expensive

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Manchester United: the business tactics that could lead to a record multi-billion-pound sale

It seems that another item can now be added to the long list of things that are getting more expensive: football clubs. The bids coming in to buy Manchester United, reportedly in the region of £4.5bn (the owners are said to want £6bn) would make it the largest amount ever paid for a club.

Given that the current US owners, the Glazer family, bought Manchester United in 2005 for around £800 million, the current valuation makes it unsurprising that a sale may be on the cards.

But can a football club, even one as famous as Manchester United, really be worth £6bn?

For comparison, in 2021 one of its rivals, Newcastle United, sold for a fraction of that sum, at around £300 million. Yet given that Newcastle had been bought for £133 million in 2007 (about £200 million in today’s money), that controversial sale was still seen as providing a decent return.

But it was Chelsea, sold in May 2022, which started the sale bonanza among the biggest British clubs. Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have all been linked to potential sales since then.

Chelsea had been bought for £140 million by Roman Abramovich in 2003, when it was struggling financially. Two decades later, its £2.5 billion price was achieved despite the club being what is known as a “distressed asset” (something that needed to be sold because Abramovich had been sanctioned by the UK government), meaning that bids were probably lower than if the sale had been on the open market.

Crucially though, Chelsea had also become a more impressive club, winning a number of trophies (two Champions League, two Europa League, five Premier League titles and five FA Cups). (The profit from the Chelsea sale is now earmarked for humanitarian causes in Ukraine.)

Another important element behind a club’s value is, of course, how much any potential owner is willing to pay. Research suggests that owning a football club is generally something that loses money, so owners normally fit one of three categories.

First, there are those who view clubs as a trophy asset; second, fans or local benefactors who want to support their side; and third, those that think they can make money from the club by making changes.

The Glazers fall squarely into the last category, and took the opportunity to buy a club through a leveraged buyout – in essence, using comparatively little of their own money – and taking money out annually through dividends.

That leveraged buyout meant that some of the money used to buy the club was secured against the club itself, like a mortgage, so the debt was borne by the club rather than the owners.

And that debt was considerable. Over the ownership of the Glazers, £837 million has been spent on interest payments alone.

Another reason for the increase in value of clubs has been the increase in revenue they can generate. The Premier League, for example, has been significantly increasing its income from selling overseas broadcasting rights (the latest US deal is more than double its previous one), and this leads to more money for the clubs. Increasing global interest in the Premier League has also added value to the small number of clubs which feature in it.

Other things that affect the value of clubs have nothing to do with football. For example, the pandemic led to the very rich getting richer and so there is more disposable income at the billionaire potential owner level.

But ownership comes with plenty of risk too and, like winning matches, financial success is never guaranteed. Around 40% of football clubs in the top four leagues of English football have gone into administration since the Premier League began, including eight of the original 22 Premier League members.

The culture of spending above your means in English football may, in the long term, be tempered by the proposed implementation of an independent regulator. In the meantime football club ownership remains, for most, a loss-making business.

For the Glazers though, selling their club for around £5 billion would surely be seen as a big win. They put in relatively little of their own money to buy it, have taken money out in dividends, and are now expected to make a massive profit on the sale price. Divisive tactics they may have been, but very lucrative too.

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Formula Equal team vying for 2026 entrance into F1

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There are four potential entrants into the sport for 2026, and one of them is aiming to have an equal number of gendered people

A team consisting of an equal gender split workforce has unveiled plans to join the Formula 1 for its 2026 season.

The group is among four potential entrants to the sport.

Former BAR boss Craig Pollock is behind it all.

He says the concept has been slowly gaining momentum in the background for years.

“This has been going on for close on four years, the building up of a brand new Formula 1 team, but taking into it our ambition to deliver and build opportunities and pathways for women to get to the very top level inside motorsports,” Pollock told CNN.

Pollock also addressed the idea of seeing a female Formula 1 driver in the seat, but says there’s a a long way to go before that happens.

“I think it’d be absolutely fantastic (to have a female driver),” Pollock explained.

“But the reality is to be able to get into the cockpit of a Formula 1 car, you’ve got to have a certain number of points on your superlicence.

“But to make this very clear, this is not just about women driving Formula 1 cars.

“This is about throughout the team; we want it even up to the board level if we can do that.

“We would like to have a gender equal Formula 1 team going forward,” he concluded.

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Fans swamp Argentine restaurant to see Lionel Messi

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The footballer needed a police escort to leave the venue

A steakhouse in Buenos Aires was mobbed by hundreds of fans who wanted to get a glimpse of their favourite football megastar.

People rushed to the exclusive Don Julio restaurant eager to get a glimpse of the man who led Argentina to its third World Cup title.

Messi eventually needed a police escort to leave.

Fans on the street corner chanted his name as police officers accompanied the 35-year-old to his vehicle while keeping fans at bay.

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