Free condoms for competitors at the Winter Olympics have run out within a record-breaking three days, according to Italian newspaper La Stampa. An anonymous athlete told the paper: “The supplies ran out in just three days. They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when.”
The shortage has been blamed on the Olympic organisers, who were reportedly not “particularly generous with the numbers”. La Stampa noted that in the Paris Summer Games, athletes received 300,000 condoms – two per day each – but for these Winter Games, the number was significantly lower: not even 10,000. Just under 3,000 athletes are competing, compared to around 10,500 in Paris two years ago.
Last week, the governor of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, defended the provision of free condoms, stating in a social media post: “Yes, we provide free condoms to athletes in the Olympic village. If this seems strange to some, they’re unaware of the established Olympic practice. It began in Seoul 1988 to raise awareness about sexually transmitted disease prevention— a topic that shouldn’t cause embarrassment.”
Fontana also shared an Instagram post by Spanish figure skater Olivia Smart, in which she showed followers condoms stamped with the yellow Lombardy Region logo. “I found them,” she says in the clip, which has gone viral. “They have everything you need.” The Olympic village also offers other amenities, including a large gym, table football, air hockey, a piano, and free drinks machines stocked with Coca-Cola and Innocent smoothies.
