450,000 condoms will be handed out in Olympic Village - 3 times more than the last games
A record 450,000 condoms will be distributed to athletes in the Olympic Village at this year's Rio games, the Associated Press reports. That's about 42 condoms per athlete.
Part of the reason for the increase is that - for the first time - 100,000 female condoms will be distributed, in addition to 350,000 male condoms. Officials also said that 175,000 packets of lubricant will be made available, too. The condoms will be distributed both at a clinic in Athletes' Village and from 41 cheerful-looking vending machines.
According to Slate, the practice of providing condoms to Olympic athletes dates all the way back to the Seoul games in 1988, when a scant 8,500 were handed out. The tradition has continued since then. At the 2008 Beijing games, the condom wrappers even came printed with a slogan: "Faster, higher, stronger."
A Brazilian newspaper reported that the uptick in condom distribution at this year's Olympics was not related to concerns about the Zika virus, which can be transmitted sexually. But the condom windfall will give more than 10,000 athletes plenty of opportunities for safe sex.