Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan has become a social media star as he shares life at the Tokyo Olympics with his online followers.
The 21-year-old from Newtownards, Co Down has been growing his online profile at his debut Games by posting a series of popular tweets showing life inside the athletes' village.
McClenaghan posted a viral tweet on Sunday in which he energetically debunked media rumours concerning the so-called ‘anti-sex’ cardboard beds.
“Anti-sex” beds at the Olympics pic.twitter.com/2jnFm6mKcB
— Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) July 18, 2021
McClenaghan was responding to reports that the beds had been made out of cardboard in order to prevent athletes having sex as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
But Tokyo officials countered the claim by insisting they had been created out of cardboard purely because it ensured they were 100 per cent recyclable.
Despite missing out on a medal on his return to competition at the European Championships earlier this year, McClenaghan remains one of the men to beat on the pommel in Tokyo.
British gymnast Max Whitlock is the reigning Olympic champion on the pommel and acknowledged McClenaghan’s status as a bona-fide threat to his dominance of the discipline.
Whitlock joked: “We are heading into the Village tomorrow (Tuesday) and we will see what the cardboard beds are like – I heard Rhys put something up there that was quite good.”
