Winter Olympians have used 10,000 condoms

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FILE PHOTO: Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Previews - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - January 25, 2026 General view of the Olympic rings and the Paralympics Agitos logo covered in snow ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics REUTERS/Claudia Greco/File Photo

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said 2,800 athletes at the Winter Games had snapped up 10,000 condoms. "Go figure, as they say,” he said.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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  • The IOC confirmed 10,000 free condoms were taken by 2,800 athletes at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in just days, indicating high demand.
  • Alpine skier Mialitiana Clerc noted similar rapid condom uptake at the Beijing Games, suggesting they are even shared as gifts.
  • Olympic Athletes' Villages have a long-standing reputation as hotbeds for sexual liaisons among competitors, explaining the high usage.

AI generated

MILAN - It’s not just on Valentine’s Day that competitors at the Winter Olympics have been embracing the free condoms on offer at the athletes’ accommodation.

The International Olympic Committee confirmed on Feb 14 that 10,000 condoms have been snapped up by athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games, which began on Feb 6.

“10,000 have been used, for 2,800 athletes. Go figure, as they say,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said with a smile at the daily media briefing.

Mialitiana Clerc, a 24-year-old alpine skier from Madagascar, said she had seen the free condoms being snapped up fast at the last Winter Olympics, in Beijing four years ago.

“I am not so shocked because I know that at the Winter Olympic Games there are a lot of people using condoms because I saw it in Beijing already,” she said.

“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying and every day, everything had gone from the box,” said Clerc, who was speaking at the briefing as a recipient of an IOC scholarship.

“I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics because it’s a kind of gift for them.”

Olympic Athletes’ Villages have long been reputed as a hotbed of sexual liaisons between testosterone-charged competitors. AFP

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