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Please drink alone in your room and don’t have sex, Tokyo Olympics tells athletes

Casey Baseel Jun 22, 2021
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Organizers don’t want people getting randy or rowdy in the Olympic Village.

Although the Olympics are, in many ways, a beacon for international friendship and cooperation, they’re still, at their core, a competition. So when the Games finally begin next month in Tokyo, for each event, only the top three competitors will go home with medals.

Everyone, though, will be going home with condoms.

During the Olympics some 18,000 people are expected to stay in the Olympic Village in Tokyo’s Harumi neighborhood. Among the amenities they were supposed to receive was a supply of 150,000 condoms. Prophylactic provision has been a part of the Olympics for the last few decades, but with continuing concern about the health safety of holding the Games during the ongoing pandemic, earlier this month the Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee put out a statement requesting that athletes not use their Olympic condoms until they’re back in their home countries.

▼ Just to be clear, the intended message was “Please abstain from the close contact of sexual intercourse while staying in the Olympic Village,” not “Please enjoy unprotected sex while in Japan.”

Apparently the committee has since decided that giving athletes condoms upon arrival but telling them to save them for when they’re back in their home countries is a bit of a mixed message. On Sunday Takashi Kitajima, general manager of the Olympic Village, announced that the condoms will now be given to the Olympic teams as they are leaving Japan, not during the competition itself. “The condoms are not meant to be used while in the Village, but to increase awareness of the dangers of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases,” said Kitajima. “Not only medalists, but all Olympic athletes have the power to spread messages in their home countries,” he added, explaining that raising such awareness is a goal of the IOC.

Considering that no returning Olympic athlete has ever proudly shown off their Olympic condom in an interview or press conference, the veracity of Kitajima’s explanation is somewhat debatable. In all likelihood, the contracts with Japanese manufacturers to produce the condoms were likely settled years ago, and if the Organizing Committee has already paid for the condoms, they have to get rid of them somehow.

So how are athletes supposed to get through any lonely nights? Well, drinking is now officially an option.

On the same day as the condom decision was announced, Kitajima also said that bringing alcoholic beverages into the Olympic Village, and consuming it on the premises, will be allowed. However, drinking will not be allowed in common-use areas or outdoor sections of the village, so those looking to knock back an Asahi Super Dry or sip a cup of Dassai sake will need to do so in their private rooms, and Kitajima is asking that people refrain from inviting friends over. “This is not to say that having drinking parties in the rooms is OK. Fundamentally, we are asking people to please drink alone in their rooms.”

Meanwhile, athletes aren’t the only ones being asked to abstain from certain activities during the Olympics, as spectators are being cautioned not to cheer too loudly.

Source: Daily via Livedoor News via Jin, Yahoo! Japan News/Huffington Post
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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