Paris Olympic 2024: Sex is back in City of Love, 3 lakh condoms to be distributed in Game Village
As the City of Love prepares for the Olympic Games 2024—which is scheduled to start just after 125 days i.e. 24 July 2024 in Paris— the Emmanuel Macron government in the French has lifted the ban on physical intimacy between athletes.
In an interview with Sky News, Laurent Michaud, the director of Olympic Village, said the organizers of the 2024 Paris Games plan to provide 300,000 condoms to 14,250 residents staying in their quarters.
“We are aiming to have 300,000 condoms here at the disposal of the athletes in the village. It’s a quantity that makes sure that everybody will have what they’re expecting and what they need,” Michaud told Sky News.
“We wanted to create some places where the athletes would feel very enthusiastic and comfortable, so they can have some conversations, discussions, and to share their core values about sport,” he added.
This reverses the Olympic policy that was set in 2020.
Even though condoms were distributed at the Tokyo Games, athletes were prohibited from having intimate relationships because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In order to prevent the outbreak of the deadly disease, the residents of the Tokyo Olympic Village were advised to avoid sexual relations and to keep a six-and-a-half-foot gap between them, reported the People.
Sex is in but alcohol is out
Michaud said the athletes will have to wait until they’ve left the Olympic Village to enjoy all the champagne France has to offer.
“We have made a village club also, with a lounge, with a sports bar with Coca-Cola, no alcohol of course over there, but it’s going to be a great place, so they can actually share their moment and the environment here,” he said.
“No champagne in the village, of course, but they can have all the champagne they want in Paris.
Washington Post reported that the practice of handing out condoms at the Olympics is not new. About 8,500 condoms were handed out during the 1988 Seoul Olympics to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 70,000 condoms arranged by the organisers fell short and they had to order an additional 20,000.
As per Sky News, the Olympics 2024 are encouraging athletes to mix with each other. “It is very important that the conviviality here is something big,” said Michaud. He said, “Working with the athletes commission, we wanted to create some places where the athletes would feel very enthusiastic and comfortable.”
Sky News reported that the organisers of Rio Games 2016 distributed 450,000 condoms, three times more than the London Games four years earlier, with 100,000 female condoms available for the first time. About 175,000 packets of lubricant were also supplied.
Michaud also shared about the food which will be served to athletes. “We will have more than 350 metres of buffet with the world food… and I’m sure that the athletes will be very happy to have some French specialities made over here. But the variety will first respond to the athletes’ needs for their nutrition and their performance,” he told Sky News.
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Published: 22 Mar 2024, 12:20 AM IST
