adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — The Rio Olympics have not yet begun, but the Games have already set a record in the number of free condoms for athletes. Officials will be distributing 450 000 condoms to the 10 500 athletes expected in Brazil starting on July 24, the day the Olympic Village opens, said Lucas Dantas, a spokesman for the Rio 2016 Committee on Thursday.
That’s an average of 42 condoms per athlete and a three-fold increase over the number of condoms distributed at the London Olympics, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported.
One third or 150 000 of the condoms to be given out by Brazil’s Ministry of Health will be female condoms, Dantas added.
Why so many condoms? “There are never enough!” Dantas joked.
On a more serious note, he said Brazil is a leader in the world when it comes to AIDS prevention.
“Brazil really encourages safe sex and athletes set an example to the general population. They can play an important role in the fight against AIDS,” he said.
Dantas also noted that many Olympic athletes do not have access to condoms in their native countries and take the freebies home after the Games. Athletes can obtain the “little shirts of Venus,” as condoms are called in Brazil, at the Olympic Village health clinic or from one of 41 dispensers. — AFP.
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