When thousands of elite athletes gather in one place, apparently the demand for condoms can outpace even the most optimistic planning. That is exactly what happened at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where the initial supply of free condoms was exhausted far faster than organizers had anticipated. Officials were quick to respond, announcing that fresh stocks were already on the way and that replenishments would continue regularly through the end of the Games. The situation drew widespread attention and plenty of jokes, but it also shed light on a tradition that has been part of the Olympic experience for decades.
The shortage became public knowledge on a Saturday, when International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams addressed the matter directly. “I think all 10,000 have been used,” Adams told reporters, adding with a laugh that with 2,800 athletes on site, “the math is pretty straightforward.” He quipped that it appeared Valentine’s Day was being celebrated enthusiastically in the athletes’ village. The IOC’s official statement confirmed the situation plainly, noting that “condom supplies in the Olympic Villages have been temporarily depleted due to higher than expected demand.”
Organizers moved quickly to address the gap, promising that additional quantities would be distributed across all venues within a matter of days. The official statement read that “supplies will be replenished regularly until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.” When you compare the numbers to past events, the original stock seems surprisingly modest. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, French organizers distributed around 300,000 condoms for their athlete population, roughly two per athlete per day. Given that winter Games typically draw about a third fewer competitors than summer editions, a comparable figure for Milano-Cortina would have been somewhere around 100,000 condoms, making the initial 10,000 look drastically insufficient.
Spanish triple jump athlete Ana Peleteiro offered perhaps the most candid explanation for why things play out this way at the Olympics. Speaking to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, she described the atmosphere in the village without holding back. “There is a lot of sex in the Olympic Village,” she said. “Really a lot. I’m not part of that now because I’m married. But imagine, everyone is incredibly fit from training, in peak physical shape, and you’ve spent an entire year completely focused on one goal. When you finally relax, if the competition went well, it’s time to celebrate, and if it didn’t, it’s time to find comfort.” She summed it up simply: “It’s great.”
The practice of distributing free condoms at the Olympic Games dates back to the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, when the initiative was introduced as a public health measure to help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections among athletes. Since then, the tradition has continued at virtually every edition of the Games, with organizers typically scaling up quantities as the event has grown. The Olympic Village itself is a self-contained community where athletes from dozens of countries live and train together for the duration of the competition, creating an environment unlike almost any other in professional sports.
The Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is the first Winter Games to be held in Italy since Turin hosted the event in 2006. The Games feature competition across several venues in the Lombardy and Veneto regions, with events spread between Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, and surrounding areas. Winter Olympics typically attract around 2,500 to 3,000 athletes, compared to over 10,000 at the Summer Games, which partly explains why winter editions have historically received smaller supplies of contraceptives. The International Olympic Committee oversees both editions of the Games and works with local organizing committees on logistics ranging from transportation and accommodation to, as it turns out, the availability of protection in the athletes’ village.
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