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The athletes’ village at the Winter Olympics has reportedly run out of condoms after 10,000 free “Milano-Cortina 2026” branded packets were snapped up by the athletes.
There are around 3,000 athletes competing in Italy, with the Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana telling athletes: “Health first: concrete prevention and common sense.”
They are clearly listening, although the availability has apparently been a significant reduction on Paris 2024 when 300,000 free condoms were shared by 10,000 athletes at a generous ratio of 30 per person.
“The supplies ran out in just three days,” an anonymous athlete told the Italian newspaper La Stampa of the situation at the Winter Games. “They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when?”
The Spanish figure skater Olivia Smart had shared a video inside the athletes village last week in which she displayed the limited-edition condoms, stamped with the yellow Lombardy region logo. “I found them,” Smart said in the clip. “They have everything you need.”
There is a theory that the athletes are not necessarily using them but instead taking them home as souvenirs of the Winter Games.
Mr Fontana has insisted that it is a topic which should not be a source of embarrassment.
“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.”
Meanwhile, T-shirts displaying the poster of the Olympic games hosted in Nazi Germany have sold out on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) website.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics, which took place under the reign of Adolf Hitler, were used as a propaganda tool to promote the idea of Aryan supremacy and the Third Reich.
Figures in Germany have called on the IOC to stop selling the T-shirts on its website. The committee has defended the sale, however, saying the T-shirt is part of its heritage collection.
Despite the criticism, the men’s shirts have sold out in all sizes. By comparison, T-shirts depicting the games in Rome in 1960, Tokyo in 1964 and London in 1908 all remain in stock.
