What's going down at the Olympic Village, and is it any of our business? Photo: RNZ
By Sofie Louise*
There are over 10,000 high-performance athletes congregating at the Paris Olympic Games right now with some of the best bodies in the world. They're young, at the peak of their careers, and they've got a lot of steam to blow off.
The Olympic Village has developed a reputation as a crazy sexual hotspot over the years, with former German Olympian Susan Tiedke telling Metro that the celebrations in the village become "one party after another," while target shooter Josh Lakatos shared with ESPN that he's "never witnessed so much debauchery in his entire life."
Is it truly a sexual free-for-all, or do the athletes have rules they have to follow?
Rumours first circulated at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 that athletes had been given "anti-sex beds" after American track and field runner Paul Chelimous shared a picture of the flimsy-looking cardboard beds in a Twitter post that's since been taken down.
This myth was revived as athletes arrived at the Paris Olympic Village, with concern growing that the Olympic Committee wanted to put a stop to debauchery between the athletes. However, competitors like Irish Rugby Player Harry Mcnulty have filmed themselves putting the beds to the test in TikTok videos that demonstrate these recyclable mattresses are much stronger than they look.
Yet, despite the lifting of the 'intimacy ban' that was put in place in Tokyo to reduce the spread of Covid, three-time Olympian Bronte Campbell shared that the athletes downtime "isn't as glamorous as people think." She told the host of the Bondi Podcast in a video that "you all sleep in single beds in shared rooms at the Olympics." She said that to make it work you've got to have good communication with your roommate.
And even then, athletes aren't encouraged to get it on with just anyone. Team USA's Olympic Village Director Daniel Smith told People that the American athletes are urged to only have sex with other team members "for security reasons." This is upheld partly through another rule that states that athletes from other countries aren't allowed in the team USA sleeping areas, though one can't help but think that these Olympians will find ways around this restriction.
Do Olympic athletes use dating apps too? And can you find them on there?
With the growing popularity of dating apps, Campbell excitedly shared how easy it became to hook up with other athletes. She said, "you didn't even have to go out and find them. You could just message them if you wanted to."
22 year old content creator Sofia Elizabeth took advantage of this in her hopes to match with an Olympic athlete from the comfort of her United States home. "Within my first day of switching my location to Paris, I matched with an Olympian for USA who then went on to achieve gold," she told the Post.
However, if you're LGBTQ+, things aren't quite as easy. Grindr has, among other precautionary measures, turned off its location services within the Athletes' Village. The queer dating app confirmed in a blog post that these restrictions are intended to keep athletes' identities confidential who come from countries where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal.
If you're wanting more than what swiping on a dating app will get you anyway, some current and retired competitors are monetising our interest through the creation of OnlyFans accounts. For just a few dollars, Tom Daley's synchronised diving partner Noah Williams promises on his profile that you can "chat to me personally," while Kiwi rower Robbie Manson told Radio New Zealand he's "making more from OnlyFans than I am from rowing at this stage."
Rower Robbie Manson has taken a novel approach by setting himself up on the adults-only OnlyFans website. Photo: PHTOSPORT
Do we care too much about the private lives of Olympians?
To a point, it's natural to be intrigued by these sporting prodigies and how their remarkable agility could translate to other parts of their life. It's also natural to wonder how they're going to get through the massive 200,000 condoms that the Olympics Organising Committee have provided them with, a custom which began in 1988 as an effort to raise awareness for HIV and AIDS, according to CBS Sports. This year, the mass number of contraceptives have even been decorated with the Olympic mascot and cute slogans about sexual safety.
*Sofie Louise is a certified Auckland-based sex and libido coach and freelance journalist.
