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The No-Longer-Secret Life in the Athletes Village

August 2nd, 2012 · 1 Comment · Olympics

We never assumed life in the Athletes Village, at the Olympics, was a matter of mass celibacy. Thousands of young, fit athletes, far from home, all leading monastic lives …

But I did wonder, over the years, about the logistics. If you have the women’s dorm over here, and the men’s dorm over there … and if everyone in the village is training hard and preparing for the biggest moments in their athletic careers …

However, ESPN The Magazine a few weeks ago published the definitive account of sex inside the village, and what did they find?

That Everybody Is Doing It.

Presumably with the exception of the very young and perhaps the very shy.

The athletes who speak in the story paint a picture of young, extremely fit, physically appealing athletes who, in fact, have some time on their hands — especially before they compete (track athletes, etc., the first week) or after they compete (swimmers, etc., the final week).

Julie Foudy remembers U.S. soccer players grazing over meals for extended periods to look at all “the eye candy.”

And Breaux Greer, an American and former javelin thrower, made the perhaps ungentlemanly but telling observation that, in the Olympic Athletes Village, “Even if their face is a 7, their body is a 20.”

So, stuff happens. (The expression “whatever happens in the Athletes Village stays in the Athletes Village” comes up.) And fans the world over who wondered about the logistics (and perhaps the “minders” from more repressive countries) … well, now we know that pretty much everyone is getting busy.

Enclosed area, shared interests, supremely fit young people, very body-conscious, in most cases not really chaperoned, unlikely to have awkward encounters next month, next year, next ever … Well, sure.

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1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Bill N. // Aug 5, 2012 at 11:33 PM

    Durex did put hundreds of thousands of condoms in the village … someone’s gotta use ’em.

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