Welcome to your go-to guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics. We’re tracking everything—from real-life heated rivalries (yes, they exist) to under-the-radar sports and surprise standouts—so you can catch up on all of our coverage in one place.
The Olympic Village is often portrayed as a sex-fest. The energy is high, the training is done, and all there’s left to do is, well, perform. So when Italian outlet La Stampa broke the news last week that the free condom supply at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics was finito within days, it sparked a fresh wave of speculation about just how much sex this year’s athletes are having.
For context, around 10,000 condoms were distributed throughout the Village, in Cortina, in keeping with a tradition that began with the Seoul 1988 Games. There are only 2,871 athletes in the Games (and not all of them stay at the Village), so that’s roughly four condoms per person…and counting, as the stock has now reportedly been replenished.
Chances are, not all of them are being put to immediate use—as Reuters reported, some athletes may be stashing them as souvenirs or gifts for friends, or stockpiling them “just in case.” But if history is any indication, we can assume an Olympic condom shortage means plenty of athletes have gotten busy, many of them before they were scheduled to compete. That timing begs the question: Could a sexy pregame influence their athletic performance?
Surprisingly, there’s a bit of actual research on the topic, though it’s primarily in men (of course). A 2022 review mainly busts prior suspicions that sex could hinder performance, finding it has no real impact, good or bad, on things like aerobic fitness, endurance, and power. So from a physical standpoint, at least, there’s little reason for athletes to hold back…assuming they’re still getting good sleep. But according to sex experts, there’s a lot sex could do for their mindset and mental state, which could filter into performance too.
PIERO CRUCIATTI/Getty Images
An enjoyable romp could pump up their energy and confidence.
Assuming all parties are consenting and having fun, a hookup can “spin you up, not just energy-wise but in terms of that sense of feeling good about yourself,” Carol Queen, PhD, staff expert at online sex-toy shop Good Vibes and coauthor of The Sex & Pleasure Book, tells SELF. An Olympian might walk out of one with an extra hit of “I’ve got this,” she says.
Part of that is chemical. “Our brains are pharmacies, and sexual stimulation has a big effect on what kinds of ‘drugs’ they’re putting out,” Nan Wise, PhD, a neuroscientist, sex therapist, and author of Why Good Sex Matters, tells SELF. The lead-up to orgasm prompts an outflow of feel-good neurochemicals with positive effects—dopamine, in particular, is linked with pursuit of reward, but can also leave you feeling motivated and focused, Dr. Wise says. Not bad things to be ahead of what could be a career-defining performance.
It could help Olympians relax a bit within a super-intense environment.
There’s massive buildup to the Olympics—years of training and sacrifice for what might be a once-in-a-lifetime couple of seconds. All that pressure can feel crushing. Sex could provide a brief escape out from under it, Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, PhD, (who goes by Dr. Tara), an associate professor of sexual and relational communication at California State University, Fullerton, and host of the Luvbites by Dr. Tara podcast, tells SELF. Some of that comes down to those feel-good neurochemicals; good sex also triggers the release of endorphins and oxytocin, both of which are natural stress-reducers, she points out.
A hookup can also offer Olympians a moment of intimate connection with someone who uniquely understands the rigor of what they’re going through, Dr. Tara adds.
And it may even help some athletes sleep better, Dr. Wise says, which could be especially beneficial for those with anxiety about competing that may otherwise keep them tossing and turning. (Of course, that’s assuming the athletes aren’t skimping on sleep in order to have sex, or combining it with drugs or alcohol—all of which could mess with performance.)
But sex might also be distracting or create a different kind of stress.
It’s possible that an Olympian gets knocked off their game by turning their focus to sex, Dr. Queen concedes. That’s more likely if they wind up catching feelings, Dr. Tara says, or if the encounter is just sort of lousy or disappointing. “But to even get to the Olympics, you have to be so disciplined that it’s unlikely sex could be enough to really distract them from the reason they’re there,” she points out.
One caveat is if they harbor negative feelings about sex. “If you believe, for instance, that sex before an athletic performance is bad for you,” Dr. Wise says, “that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy and impair your performance just because you’re nervous or anxious.”
The same goes if an Olympian is having sex because of peer pressure, Ericka Hart, MEd, New York–based sex educator and member of the PlusOne wellness collective, tells SELF. All the talk about the Village as a horny locale, as well as the power dynamics at play among athletes of different stature, could push people to have sex—to negative effect, she says.
We can only hope that the athletes doing it are fully consenting and communicative. “If the two of them agree, before hopping into bed, that it could be a good stress-buster and that they’re going to be respectful of each other, it could work out pretty well,” Dr. Wise says.
And of course, we have to praise their apparent use of condoms, for keeping STIs and unwanted pregnancy out of the picture. “We don’t hear that much about condoms anymore,” Dr. Queen says, “so I’m happy to see some good PR for protection.”
Related:
- Why Figure Skater Ilia Malinin’s Winter Olympics Backflip Is Such a Big Deal
- The Winter Olympics Have Their Own Heated Rivalry Couple
- Mikaela Shiffrin’s ‘Back Abs,’ Explained
Get more of SELF’s great service journalism delivered right to your inbox.
