They arrive, from all corners of the globe, young, beautiful and at the peak of physical fitness, with just one thing on their minds: competing in the Olympic sport they’ve spent the last four years intensively training for.
Or at least that’s what they will say in media interviews.
In fact, extensive anecdotal experience tells us that many of them have a second thing on their minds too: sex.
With this unique opportunity to meet and hang out with fellow athletes in their optimal physical condition, the temptation for many to get to know them much more intimately can for many be overwhelming.
This tendency was apparently something the organisers of Paris’s Olympic Village had in mind when they laid on the free condoms for competitors this summer.
Condoms are seen inside the Athletes’ Village ahead of the Paris Olympic Games on July 23, 2024 in Paris, France
A general view of a bed, made from cardboard, which will be used by athletes at the Olympic Village site in Paris
And not just one or two but some 200,000 condoms at various points around the complex – equivalent to 14 for every single athlete.
There is also other sex-friendly kit freely available like 20,000 female condoms 10,000 dental dams (to protect against any infection during oral sex) as well as a state-of-the-art medical clinic to deal with any unexpected repercussions including STIs, sexual injuries and unwanted pregnancies.
MailOnline spoke to one competitor, a sprinter representing a Caribbean island, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity. They told us: ‘Right now, I’m totally focused on my event. I’ve been training for this for as long as I can remember.
‘But once the race is done, it’s time to have some fun. And yes that does mean there will be a lot of hanky panky going on.’
Athlete accounts of wild sex parties at previous Olympic Games are the stuff of legend.
Perhaps the most famous athlete of modern times, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, was said to have had a particularly lively all-night party with three members of Sweden’s handball team shortly after he stormed to victory in the 100m final at London 2012.
And at Rio 2016 the world’s fastest man wasted no time in convincing a beautiful Brazilian Samba dancer to join him at the Athletes Village after another convincing win.
Or there was Team USA swimmer Ryan Lochte, who reportedly had sex on a balcony at Athens 2004, once said: ‘I’d say it’s 75 per cent of Olympians having sex.’
Casual sex is reputedly so rampant that some athletes joke the second Olympic motto should be: ‘What happens in the village stays in the village.’
Team USA goalkeeper Hope Solo revealed: ‘There’s a lot of sex going on. I’ve seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people getting down and dirty.’
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was said to have had a particularly lively all-night party with three members of Sweden’s handball team shortly after he stormed to victory in the 100m final (pictured) at London 2012
Or there was Team USA swimmer Ryan Lochte, who reportedly had sex on a balcony at Athens 2004, once said: ‘I’d say it’s 75 per cent of Olympians having sex’ (pictured: Lochte after winning the men’s 200m individual medley final in Athens in 2004)
Team USA goalkeeper Hope Solo (pictured after winning gold at the London 2012 Games) revealed: ‘There’s a lot of sex going on. I’ve seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people getting down and dirty’
While a shooter from Team USA shooter once recalled: ‘I’d never witnessed the debauchery seen at Sydney 2000 in my whole life.
‘My apartment was like a brothel in the Olympic Village. The entire women’s 4×100 relay team of a Scandinavian-looking country walked out of the house one morning, followed by the USA track and field fellas.’
With sex on many of the 14,500 athletes’ minds, Paris2024 organisers have tried to make sure they concentrate primarily on the job in hand – their events.
The accepted protocol – even if not everyone sticks to it – is very much: medals first, making love second.
First expected to buckle under the weight of their testosterone are members of the world’s various Rugby Sevens teams, which is among the first events to finish.
‘We’ve got matches until two days before the closing ceremony, but the Rugby Seven guys are all done on Tuesday,’ one hockey player told MailOnline as members of Serbia’s female basketball team strolled past.
‘Then they’ve got two days until they get kicked out of the Athletes Village. That’s when you make friends with the Norwegian handball team and see if there’s sparkle.’
There have been suggestions that organisers this year have tried to put a dampener on sexual appetites by installing so-called cardboard single beds that can only fit on person.
Team GB diving star Tom Daley, who is embarking on his fifth Olympics, went viral with a video showing him messing about on his bed.
To the soundtrack of Charli XCX’s ‘Apple’, Daley’s demonstrated his springboard technique on his own bed before declaring it ‘pretty sturdy’.
Tom Daley shared a video from inside his bedroom in the Paris Olympic Village on Monday
The Olympic rings are seen on the Eiffel Tower, Sunday, July 14, 2024, in Paris
Playful Daley also made a particularly fruity joke about the Olympic rings.
But others have debunked any suggestion that there’s an anti-sex agenda. Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan branded the cardboard bed story ‘fake news’ .
Athletes are also expected to visit the many romantic landmarks and venues that has led Paris to be known as the City of Love.
A track and field coach added: ‘I’m a happily married man, but there are a lot of young guys here. Once they’ve finished their event they like to have fun.
‘I’ve seen at least four big cupboards packed with condoms and anything else they could need.’
The free condoms will come in the blue, red, green and purple colours of the Paris 2024 Games and be housed in unbranded packaging accompanied infection prevention messages in English. The athletes will also be given tubes of lubricant.
Athletes typically share rooms with another member same sex – with roommates expected to bunk down on team-mates’ floor if their colleague has an expected guest.
The Athletes Village is made up a series of apartment blocks which are taken by nations.
The sexes are usually allocated separate blocks or floors depending on the size of the team.
Athletes typically share rooms with another member same sex – with roommates expected to bunk down on team-mates’ floor if their colleague has an expected guest
The Athletes Village is made up a series of apartment blocks which are taken by nations
Athletes walking through the village in Saint Quen, Paris, ahead of the opening ceremony this week
Set over three floors, the Athletes’ Village state of the art medical centre can carry out up to 700 consultations per day.
‘It’s better than the local hospital,’ one Paris2024 organiser revealed.
‘It has everything – scanners, surgical theatre, a pharmacy. Treating sexually transmitted diseases really is not a problem.’
Athletes will have access to specialist doctors in gynecology, cardiology, dental and eye treatment as well as sports injuries. And it can carry up to 70 MRI scans per day.
‘This multi-disciplinary care centre is the corner stone of the health system dedicated to athletes and their delegations,’ Dr Pierre Mauger, the head of Paris 2024 medical services said.
