Is the Olympic Village a hotbed of sex and debauchery, or is gay former figure skater Adam Rippon just a thief?
While hosting the NBC podcast My New Favorite Olympian, Rippon answered a curious fan who asked, “What really goes down in the Olympic Village?”
“Well, obviously I’ve heard a lot about the condoms, okay,” he said. “Who hasn’t?”
There have long been rumors about Olympians hooking up with each other during the Games, with target shooter Josh Lakatos saying that he “never witnessed so much debauchery in my entire life” at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and gold medalist Hope Solo confirming “There’s a lot of sex going on” at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Rippon explained that during his time at the Olympics, he was curious about the condoms he’d heard so much about — organizers handed out a record-breaking 110,000 free condoms at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, where Rippon competed — and finally found them in the medical tent.
@nbcchicago Did Adam Rippon steal 3,000 condoms from the Olympic Village? 👀 Host of the NBC podcast “My New Favorite Olympian,” Adam Rippon answers fan questions about life inside the Olympic Village and the myth behind the condom distribution at the Games. #milanocortina #winterolympics #MyNewFavoriteOlympian
“In my mind, it was this lavish sort of experience, but really it was just like a basket filled with condoms that said in Korean, ‘generic condom.’ No Olympic rings, no fanfare, no frills,” he said.
When asked how athletes go through so many condoms, it turns out Rippon might be to blame.
“If you were wondering where 3,000 of the condoms went from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, I took them,” he admitted.
Rippon said he stuffed his duffel bag full of them and then handed them out to friends as souvenirs.
Rippon said that he may have been to blame for how many condoms were “used” at the 2018 Winter Games, but he thinks “the real shenanigans are happening at the Summer Games” because they're not wearing layers of clothing and parkas to stay warm like he was.
According to the official Olympics website, they increased their sexual health efforts at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where they had 200,000 male condoms, 20,000 female condoms, and 10,000 oral dams available to the athletes.
He joked, “They’re basically naked, and it’s warm outside.”
