Paris Olympics 2024 gave out 2,20,000 male and female condoms to athletes: 'Let's stay responsible'

The condoms come in attractive packaging and features the Phryges, official mascots of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, alongside catchy captions and phrases. (Image credit: @athlete365/Instagram)

The Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games has distributed more than 2 lakh contraceptives among the participating athletes to ensure that those who "partake in extra-curricular frivolities are safe when they do so".

Laurent Dalard, the first-aid and health services coordinator for Paris 2024, said that enough prophylactics have been given out to cover the 10,500 athletes staying at the Olympic Village and for those staying further afield.

"With 200,000 male condoms, 20,000 female condoms, and 10,000 oral dams available to those in the Olympic Village, safe sex is paramount in a notoriously febrile environment, akin to students at college, but sweatier," they stated on the Olympics' site.

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Meanwhile, the packaging of the condoms with its witty one-liners and taglines has been gaining popularity among athletes and on social media.

It features the Phryges, official mascots of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, alongside captions and phrases such as, "On the field of love, play fair. Ask for consent", "Don’t share more than victory, protect yourself against STDs", and "No need to be a gold medalist to wear it!"

It's a mix of "playful captions but also sober reminders for everyone to be respectful and careful in the heady Olympic summer days in France's City of Love," the official website stated.

Our players can’t sleep before the night of a Pre-quarter finals thinking about the expectations of 1.4 billion Indians, while these athletes are having Sax-sux. pic.twitter.com/L2pKQeZ3Vh

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— Gabbar (@GabbbarSingh) July 30, 2024

'Anti-sex' beds?

Speculation of the Olympics organising authorities arranging for "anti-sex" beds made out of cardboard has also been tested and rubbished as "fake news" by athletes who took it upon themselves to check the sturdiness of the structures.

Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan -- who had tested the beds even at Tokyo Olympics 2020 -- took up the role again in France's capital.

"I'm at the Paris Olympic Games Once again, they have these cardboard anti-sex beds," he said. "When I tested them last time, they withstood my testing. Maybe I wasn't rigorous enough though." Cue a period of running on the spot, somersaulting, stomping, and handstand bounces. "No, it's passed the test. It's fake, FAKE NEWS," he added.

The Olympics committee clarified that the beds are not anti-sex at all. "The 'frames' are made from cardboard and the mattresses of polyethylene mattresses, both 100 percent recyclable, for sustainability purposes," they said.