It has been announced that athletes will no longer be restricted from partaking in sexual activities this Olympics.
The world's premier sporting event will have its opening ceremony this friday (26 July), which will be followed by the best athletes out there competing in their respective sports for just under three weeks.
They'll all be vying to take home the coveted Olympic gold medal, but a lot of the build-up to the event has centred around life for the athletes away from their sports.
The infamous 'anti-sex' beds have made a return in Paris, with the specific measures first put in place during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while one athlete complained about the uncomfortable cardboard beds on TikTok.
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But why did anti-sex beds have to be introduced?
Well, a former Olympian explained that athletes at the Olympics might be up there with some of the most sexually driven people ever, with the adrenaline and hormones released after a good sporting performance unrivalled by any other feeling.
We know that over 300,000 condoms have been given out this year to the 10,500 athletes, who may only be competing on a couple of days, leaving a lot of spare time to kill, even after recovering.
An old ESPN article from 2012 documented the apparent goings on at the Olympic Village, according to a number of American athletes, with the likes of Hope Solo and Ryan Lochte contributing.
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Target shooter Josh Lakatos said of the Olympic Village in 2000 in Sydney, “I’ve never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life."
You may of heard of an intimacy ban and 'anti-sex beds' that were introduced at the last games, but these had a lot to do with the ongoing COVID pandemic according to Mélissa Chovino, a spokesperson from the Paris 2024 organising committee, with physical interaction in general heavily discouraged.
Even then, the International Olympic Committee passed out 150,000 condoms to athletes.
However, the rules around intimacy at this year's summer Olympics have been completely relaxed, with 'no restrictions regarding sexual activity' in place, says Chovino.
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She added: “Paris 2024 is not imposing, nor have we been asked to implement, any restrictions in this regard.”
Apparently, the IOC aren't really keeping tabs on what goes on in the village, though if athletes want to get frisky, they'll still have to work their magic on a sturdy cardboard bed.
But then again, the lack of comfort won't exactly stop an Olympian from doing what they want, as Ilona Maher, a Team USA rugby player who competed in Japan, explained in a TikTok.
“Y’all thinking athletes, Olympic athletes, the top 1% in the world, are gonna be deterred by some cardboard?” she asked.
Maher explained: “We’re the best at what we do, but we’re gonna see a cardboard bed and be like, ‘Ugh, sorry, babe, can’t get freaky tonight, it’s cardboard, what are we gonna do?’ No. Okay? They’ll find a way.”
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Along with 200,000 male condoms, the organisers have stocked up on 10,000 without latex, 20,000 female condoms and 10,000 oral condoms, says Chovino - that works out to 23 pieces of protection per athlete, if they want to clean up.
Chovino said that the excess is to promote the 'athletes awareness of STIs and how they are transmitted', which the games are specifically focusing on for the first time in their history.
They are promoting pleasure over abstinence for the first time, launching a comprehensive sexual health campaign that focuses on pleasure and consent, as well as safety.
The village medical clinic will even provide preventive STI testing services, with medical staff on hand to start treatment if an athlete does contract an STI.
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But the bottom line here is it's all in the athlete's hands, the shackles are well and truly off for the first time.
Maher explained: “Not everybody knows what it's like to be an Olympian. Not everyone can really say what it’s like to train your hardest for something and win and also [have] a big chance to lose as well.
“And you connect over that, you bond over that with people,” she highlighted.
The rugby player compared the village to a college campus, saying that flirting is 'part of it', while Ryan Lochte estimated to ESPN in 2012 that around 70 - 75% of athletes get busy during the games.
It's just bound to happen isn't it?
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Sport, Olympics
Joshua Nair