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Love is (back) in the air at the Winter Olympics.
At the Olympic Village in Milano-Cortina, a supply of about 10,000 free condoms for competing athletes was quickly scooped up in just three days — but they have now been restocked.
More condoms were provided to athletes at the beginning of this week, a spokesperson for the Olympics organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed to USA Today.
The rubber restocking comes after Italian outlet La Stampa reported a shortage in the villas, due to, in the words of the IOC, “higher-than-anticipated demand.”
“Shows that Valentine’s Day is in full swing in the village, and I don’t think I can add very much more to that,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters on the Feb. 14 holiday.
It’s unclear exactly how many more condoms are being brought into the Olympic Village to replenish the supply.
“I think 10,000 (condoms) have been used,” Adams explained about the shortage. “So 2,800 athletes, you can go figure, as they say.”
Luckily for the athletes, the IOC plans to keep the contraceptives “continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
“The IOC works closely with the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee to support the mental and physical health of athletes, including supporting sexual health services,” the IOC said in a statement.
“The details of the provision are determined by the OCOG, and the IOC believes that appropriate services are available for all athletes.”
Madagascar alpine skier Mialitiana Clerc told USA Today that she wasn’t shocked to hear that there was a shortage this year.
“I know that at the Winter Olympics a lot of people use condoms,” she said. “I saw it in (2022 Winter Olympics) Beijing as well. There were some boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and everything was gone from them.
“I already know a lot of people are using some condoms, or maybe taking them to give to their friends outside the Olympics. Maybe they are using them as gifts, just for fans.”
Providing condoms to athletes has been a standard practice since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
They were even distributed during the unofficial COVID-induced “intimacy ban” of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where organizers ordered 160,000 condoms to be handed out, according to NPR.
Though the 2026 Winter Games have a smaller athlete pool — just over 2,900 athletes compared to about 10,500 in the Summer Olympics — the demand for condoms has stayed consistent.
And the 100,000 condoms provided for the athletes competing this year aren’t even in the same league as the approximately 300,000 condoms provided at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that organizers this year were “not particularly generous with the numbers” compared to previous Olympic Games.
In 2024, the Olympic prophylactics went viral for their bright, colorful packaging featuring images of the official mascots of the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, the Phryges, and messages on each packet.
