Competitors at the Winter Olympics have worked their way through a record-breaking number of condoms in the space of three days
There are close to 3000 athletes competing in the Milan Cortina Games with the Olympic Villages, accommodating a large portion of those, running out of free contraceptives with demand greatly outweighing supply.
Those in need however have been promised another delivery is on the way.
‘The supplies ran out in just three days,’ an anonymous athlete told Italian newspaper La Stampa.
‘They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when?’
There has been a significant reduction in the number of free condoms provided to athletes with organisers at Paris 2024 dishing out approximately 300,000 that summer.
La Stampa report fewer than 10,000 have been made available for the those at the current Winter Games.
Last week the governor of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana insisted the topic should not be a source of embarrassment with the practise in place ay every Olympics and Winter Olympics since 1988.
‘Yes, we provide free condoms to athletes in the Olympic village,’ he said.
‘If this seems strange to some, they’re unaware of the established Olympic practice. It began in Seoul 1988 to raise awareness among athletes and young people about sexually transmitted disease prevention— a topic that shouldn’t cause embarrassment.”
Spanish figure skater Olivia Smart shared a social media video last week of the limited-edition condoms, stamped with the yellow Lombardy Region logo.
‘They have everything you need, she wrote.
