Yahoo Finance 2024 Paris Olympics Handing Out 300,000 Condoms After Lifting Intimacy Ban for Athletes
Athletes competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were asked not to get in close contact with one another to stop the spread of COVID
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The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games logoThe Olympics are set to revive an old tradition — that is, providing thousands of condoms to the athletes for use during the event.
On Saturday, Olympic Village director Laurent Michaud revealed in an interview with Sky News that the 2024 Paris Games will have 300,000 condoms available for the 14,250 athletes staying in their quarters.
"It is very important that the conviviality here is something big," Michaud told the U.K. outlet.
This hand-out reverses a policy for the 2020 Olympics. Although condoms were handed out during the Tokyo Games, officials placed an intimacy ban on athletes due to the COVID pandemic. Athletes were asked to limit their physical contact with each other — including sex — and keep a distance of six and a half feet apart from others to stop the spread of the disease.
The distribution of condoms is a tradition for the Olympics. Since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, organizers have handed out contraceptives to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS, CBS Sports reported. Even during the 2020 games, 150,000 condoms were handed out.
Related: Tom Daley Shows Off the Athletes' Rooms at Tokyo Olympics: 'We Can Fit Everyone in That Shower'
“Working with the athletes commission, we wanted to create some places where the athletes would feel very enthusiastic and comfortable,” Michaud told Sky News.
While intimacy is allowed again at the Olympics, another vice will not be available to the athletes.
“No champagne in the village, of course, but they can have all the champagne they want also in Paris,” said Michaud. “We will have more than 350 meters of buffet with the world food... and I'm sure that the athletes will be very happy to have some French specialties made over here.”
According to Sky News, this is the most costly Olympic construction project yet. Paris is expected to spend around €2 billion (or roughly $2.1 billion) by the time the torch-lighting ceremony rolls around in July.
The news outlet also got a tour of the athletes' quarters, which feature a simple design with two twin beds, shelves and a small balcony looking out into the City of Love.
Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
A view of a bedroom of an athlete apartment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Olympic villageThis isn’t the first time audiences have got an inside look at the athletes’ quarters or heard about the relationships between athletes.
During the 2020 games, athletes such as rugby star Ilona Maher shared on TikTok what it’s really like to hang out in the Olympic Village, giving fans an inside look at everything from the friendships between competitors and what food is served in the cafeteria.
British diver Tom Daley even showed off the showers at one point during the Tokyo Olympics, and U.S. rugby player Cody Melphy posted the entertainment center, which featured arcade games and table tennis.
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Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi told Sky News that organizers hope the Paris Games can serve as a return to normalcy after the Tokyo Olympics were delayed due to the pandemic.
“It has to be a celebration and it is a celebration. We've had many challenges in the past,” Dubi told the outlet. “In Rio, we faced situations that were amazingly complex. But what you see is that with a bit of goodwill from everyone — starting with the organizers, but also as far as the Olympic community is concerned — meeting with the challenges and coming up with solutions... is in the greater interest that the Games represent.
“What we all want is for unity, peace and a celebration of the best athletes. This is how this creative family works together,” he continued. “Any challenge? We will win.”
The 2024 Paris Games will run from July 26 to Aug. 11.
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