City of Love: Sex is back at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

As pandemic-era Olympic restrictions are being lifted, it sounds like the Paris 2024 Olympic organizers are encouraging athletes to get busy again.

According to a report from Sky News, the 9,000 Olympians set to arrive in July will be well taken care of vis a vis prophylactics and sturdy beds. In total, including coaches and staff, there will be 14,250 people living in the Olympic village. The cardboard bed frames are said to support 250 kg. That is probably enough for a couple Olympians, if the mood should strike.

Rubber side down

300,000 condoms will be provided in the Olympic Village. That means each resident can use at least a couple a day, if they feel up for an additional workout or two.

This is a clear change to the Tokyo 2021 Summer Games which imposed social distancing and an intimacy ban by the International Olympic Committee.

This development will likely be embraced by many athlete. The International Olympic Committee’s previous directive for athletes to “avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact” during the last Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games due to the pandemic.

Intimacy ban lifted from Tokyo

During the Tokyo Olympics, athletes were required to wear masks and undergo regular health screenings. However, despite the intimacy restrictions imposed in 2021, 150,000 condoms were distributed at the Tokyo Olympics. However, these rules will be disregarded in 2024. This is following the World Health Organization’s declaration last year of the end of the global COVID-19 health emergency.

In 2024, the Olympic village will be situated in the French capital, approximately 7 km north of the city centre.

Condom distribution at the Games is not a recent practice. In fact, it only began at Seoul Olympics in 1988. 8,500 condoms were distributed to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

That number has gone up over time. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, organizers had to order an additional 20,000 condoms. That was after realizing that the initial 70,000 wouldn’t be enough for all the athletes that were active.

There are a lot of good times in the Olympic Village, apparently

No one has ever done a deep dive (surprisingly tbh) into how much ooh la la happens at the Olympics. But many athletes have shared their own experiences.

“There’s a lot of sex going on,” American soccer goalkeeper and two-time Olympic gold medalist Hope Solo said to ESPN in 2012. Swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte said he figured “70 per cent to 75 percent of Olympians” were getting down.

Sex is fine, but no hooch will be available

“It is very important that the conviviality here is something big,” Laurent Michaud, director of the village, told Sky News. “We wanted to create some places where the athletes would feel very enthusiastic and comfortable. Despite the absence of a French staple in the village, athletes will have ample options to ensure they are well-fed and refreshed.”

Those refreshments won’t include anything sparkly, however. There will be no champagne to be used for liquid courage in the village, Michaud said. “Of course, but they can have all the champagne they want in Paris.”