The Olympic Village's Condom Shortage Has Been Resolved

Even if a given athlete does not make it to the podium in a given Olympics, the competition is a classic example of a case where just being there is an honor. It’s worth remembering that even an athlete who finishes last a given event is still one of the world’s best at their chosen sport. There are other frustrations that can come up when attending the Olympics as a partipant, and last week one of them came into focus.

This year’s Olympic village experienced — there’s no easy way to put this — a shortage of condoms. Or, as a spokesperson told The Athletic on Friday, condom supplies were “temporarily depleted due to higher-than-anticipated demand.” Apparently, athletic competition at the highest possible levels — plus the scenic landscape of northern Italy — makes for a powerful aphrodisiac.

Good news for Olympians and their romantic partners came later in the weekend: as the Associated Press reported on Saturday, local organizers apologized for the earlier shortage and pledged to have the Olympic Village’s supply of condoms refilled in time for Valentine’s Day.

Meet the VO2 Max Kings of the Winter Olympics

Nordic skiing turns lungs into super engines — these athletes can out-breathe anyone on Earth

What was responsible for the shortage? As the AP’s reporting notes, the approximately 2,800 athletes initially had access to 10,000 condoms. This is significantly less than the 300,000 condoms that 10,500 athletes had access to at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

However, there’s one somewhat unexpected reason that athletes might be stocking up on official Olympics prophylactics: they make a good gift for friends back home. “I already know that a lot of people are using some condoms or just taking them to give to their friends outside of the Olympics because it’s a kind of gift for them,” Alpine skiier Mialitiana Clerc told the Associated Press. It’s certainly a gift its recipient will remember.

Meet your guide

Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…