MCTEvery two years, a rare phenomenon occurs, affecting companies such as Trojan, Durex and, starting in August, the Guilin Latex Factory. With the arrival of the Beijing Olympics, the Olympic Village will replace college campuses worldwide as the sexual epicenter of the world.
If this year’s Olympics follow the trend seen in Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens, China will experience an exponential increase in sexual activity.
For the Athens games, the Olympic committee ordered 130,000 condoms and 30,000 tubes of lubricant from Durex, the official condom and lubricant sponsor of the 2004 games; each athlete received 12 condoms for the two-week-long games.
“As the official supplier of condoms and lubricants, we hope the donation will help athletes improve their achievements between the sheets,” stated a Durex mouthpiece to ESPN.com staff writer Jeff Merron in an August 11, 2004 article.
At Sydney in 2000, athletes only received about five condoms to start the games, so if the 41.67 percent increase from Sydney to Athens holds true, officials in Beijing will need to order 178,500 condoms (17 per athlete) and more than 42,000 tubes of lubricant.
With Guilin Latex Factory, China’s largest condom vendor, virtually a lock to sponsor the condoms for the 2008 Olympics, other companies have started selling products tailored to attract not only the athletes but also the fans and tourists who will be in Beijing.
The Chinese auction site Taobao is selling condoms bearing one of the five Fuwa Olympic mascots for eight yuan ($1.11), and the auction site Paipai is selling Olympic ring-colored sex beads bearing the five colors of the Beijing games.
“The anal beads are spherical, but multifaceted for your intense stimulation,” reads the ad for the beads upon their release into the public market.
The fact the Olympic athletes engage in sexual activity during their entire stay at the Olympics raises the question of whether sex negatively influences the athletes. Many coaches forbid sexual contact by their players during any moments of intense competition, such as the Olympics or the NFL playoffs, and Eva Longoria withheld herself from husband and San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker during the 2007 NBA finals.
While Parker played great and helped his team win the title, many doctors and psychologists disagree with the theory that sex hinders athletic performance. Emphasizing that sex allows athletes to relieve stress and to expel extra energy that would hinder their concentration on the field or court, some doctors have even encouraged athletes to have sex the night before an event.
Additionally, ejaculation actually raises testosterone levels in men, which may benefit sprinters, boxers and other sportsmen who must have as much energy as possible when competing.
While athletes and coaches may worry about fatigue in the legs due to sex, doctors claim that no scientific proof exists to support this claim, citing that sex only burns around 50 calories. Supporting the claim that sex can help athletic performance, Bob Beamon shattered the long jump record by almost two feet at the 1968 Olympics after having sex the previous night.
“There is no proven effect on athletic performance, either positive or negative, of sexual activity prior to an athletic event,” stated Dr. Alan Glass, director of the Habif Health and Wellness Center.
“There is no evidence that demonstrated that sex can hurt an athlete’s performance,” said Paola Rijos, health educator at the Habif Center. “According to the National Geographic, scientists do not believe that sex the night before a sporting event has a tiring effect. They also add that sex does not weaken the athletes’ muscles. The psychological affects are still unclear. It’s important to know that scientists stress athletes should not try anything new the night before a competition.”
Of course, most of the athletes who are expected to contend for metals do abstain during the games, but the majority of Olympic athletes, often called Olympic tourists, come not only to win but also to meet other beautiful, fit individuals and cannot help sleeping with their compatriots.
Accordingly, the Chinese government has already begun taking precautions against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and has ordered all Beijing hotels to supply guests with free condoms beginning this year.
The games will likely receive another key component to the sex trade starting with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Prostitutes in the area are attempting to organize co-op brothels for the spectators in an effort to tie sex even closer to the Olympics and give fans the opportunity to live the games like the majority of the athletes whom they are watching.
As in Sydney, owners will be sure to expand their brothels and include handicapped accessible venues and prostitutes from all four corners of the globe will convene for the games.
While Wash. U. provides a sizeable supply of condoms, the horny young adult crowd pales in comparison to the horny beautiful members of the Olympic Village.
According to Student Health Services, the University orders 40,000 condoms for distribution, coming out to between six and seven per person.
The Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) has a separate program from Student Health Services, called “We’ve Got You Covered.” The goal of the “We’ve Got You Covered” campaign is to promote safer sex by providing students with free, reliable access to both contraception and sexual health information. This is accomplished by providing participating residence halls with “safer sex packets,” which contain 20 envelopes with two condoms and optional sexual health fact sheets. SHAC refills the packets once a month. The campaign is supported by Student Union, Residential Life and Student Health Services.