Sex at the Rio Olympics Might Have a Rubber Problem

There are a lot of condoms going around in the Olympic Village – 4,50,000 to be exact.

Organisers of the Olympic Games 2016 may have gone a little overboard on the free condoms front. A Brazilian newspaper reported that 4,50,000 condoms would be distributed in the Olympic Village – 1,00,000 of which will be female condoms. That’s 42 condoms per athlete, and if athletes pair up with one another, they could have sex 84 times.

Though condoms are crucial for preventing pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and even Zika, their production isn’t always sustainable. And in Brazil, home to the world’s largest tropical rainforest, the industry can be damaging to the country’s biodiversity.

Also Read: Not Just Fun and Games: The Environment Will Pay for the Olympics

Swapping Trees for Rubber

Rubber tends to be considered a sustainable industry because trees don’t need to be chopped down for cultivation purposes — rubber can be tapped directly and the trees kept alive. But the world’s mass dependence on the substance means that large swathes of land are cleared to make room for plantations. In the process, native trees and local habitats are destroyed. This poses a problem for biodiversity, research shows, and can reduce soil productivity and water availability.

Oil palm has received much more global attention than rubber, but in fact environmental and social impacts are comparable and the dynamics of the two are related.

Meine Van Noordwijk, from the World Agroforestry Centre

At the same time, the rubber industry often relies on pesticides and fertilisers. Condoms themselves, though biodegradable, also contain chemicals to make them durable and prevent breakage. And most of the time, their wrappers aren’t so biodegradable.

Do Athletes Need That Many Condoms?

Some athletes are banned from having sex by their coaches, who worry they will lose concentration if they engage in these “activities”. But reports suggest that hasn’t stopped athletes from getting to know one another intimately.

During the Sochi, London and Beijing Olympics, condoms were also bountiful. In Sochi, there were reportedly 100,000 condoms in circulation, while in London there were 150,000 and Beijing had 100,000 Faster, Higher, Stronger condoms.

And while there were reports that 70,000 condoms distributed during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 were insufficient, Rio’s new record still seems like an over-reach.