The Digest:
Athletes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have exhausted the supply of under 10,000 prophylactics at the Fiames Olympic Village in just three days, a fraction of the 300,000 provided at Paris 2024. An anonymous athlete told La Stampa that supplies vanished quickly, with promises of more incoming but no firm date; another joked about getting "imaginative." The figure represents approximately two condoms per day per male athlete among the estimated 1,500 men in the village. Organisers have pledged to restock supplies as the games continue through February 22, while the Milano village has added privacy rooms. The Olympic tradition of providing condoms aims to promote safe sex and awareness about HIV/AIDS.
Key Points:
- The rapid depletion highlights the active social life within the Olympic Village alongside athletic competition.
- It underscores the importance of safe sex provisions at major sporting events.
- Athletes maintain personal freedoms, while organisers scramble to meet unexpected demand.
- This signals that the scaled-down supply (compared to Paris) underestimated athlete behaviour.
- The timing, early in the games, allows for restocking before the event concludes.
Sources: La Stampa, Social Media/X
