Olympic organizers lifted the intimacy ban and have made 300,000 condoms available for 14,250 athletes set to reside at the Olympic Village during the Paris 2024.
For those unfamiliar, the intimacy ban was imposed on the Games for Tokyo 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The athletes were asked to maintain a six-and-a-half feet distance from other athletes and limit their physical contact, including sex, to safeguard themselves and others from the spread of the disease.
“It is very important that the conviviality here is something big,” Olympic Village director Laurent Michaud said in an interview with Sky News.
“Working with the athletes commission, we wanted to create some places where the athletes would feel enthusiastic and comfortable,” Mr Michaud told Sky News.
The distribution of condoms at the Olympic village has been in tradition for a long time. The organizers have have handed out contraceptives to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS since the 1988 Seoul Olympics. 150,000 condoms were handed out during the 2020 Games.
However, at the Olympics Village in Paris, champagne will not be allowed. Athletes can choose to have their food and beverages from a wide variety of buffet which will be made available to them.
“No champagne in the village, of course, but they can have all the champagne they want also in Paris,” said Michaud. “We will have more than 350 meters of buffet with the world food… and I’m sure that the athletes will be very happy to have some French specialties made over here.”
As per reports, Paris 2024 is the most costly construction project in the history of the Games. The organizing committee will spent around $2.1 billion by the time the torch-lighting ceremony rolls around in July.