Paris Olympics lifts pandemic-era athlete intimacy ban

The tradition of providing Olympic athletes with condoms will return for Paris 2024, after pandemic-era intimacy bans were put in place for Tokyo’s games. The 14,250 residents at the Olympic Village will be provided with 300,000 condoms, the Village’s director confirmed.

That’s a little over 21 each for the 19-day event, for those counting.

In the 2020 games, delayed until 2021 by COVID-19, athletes were asked to limit physical contact outside of the events themselves, keeping six feet apart to prevent the spread of the virus. Condoms were still distributed, but athletes were asked to “take them back to their home countries to raise awareness [of HIV and AIDS].”

The Paris games will have a sports bar, CBS reported, but — in what may be an attempt to eke out the condom supply — it will serve no alcohol.