Number of contraceptives supplied to athletes at Rio Olympics is the higest ever

Dispelling age old myths

There’s nothing surprising in records being shattered at the Olympics, and people are certainly expecting at least one record to be broken at Rio 2016, but the games have already witnessed a new record, and it doesn’t have anything to do with a sport.

With 450,000 condoms supplied to athletes at the Olympic village and 175,000 sachets of lubricant, Rio 2016 saw the largest amount of contraceptives ever delivered at an Olympic games, and also indicates that athletes are breaking many myths.

Ancient Greeks, who started the games, believed that semen contains divine energy and ejaculation would use up this energy and lowers sexual aggression which goes up due to sexual frustration.

They saw dedication in sport as a vow of chastity and said that an athlete’s ability to perform should be focus only on the field and not in bed. Many in games like boxing still adhere to this belief, but scientists have already dispelled this myth.

A study published in the Frontiers of Physiology found that sexual activity had no effect on muscle strength or mental focus of athletes it said, “The impact of sexual activity before a sport competition is still unclear, but most studies generally seem to exclude a direct impact of sexual activity on athletic aerobic and strength performance.”

But the rise in sexual activity among athletes hasn’t been seen for the first time, it has consistently been going up since condoms were first supplied to athletes in the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.

An ESPN report from 2012 said, “Olympians are young, supremely healthy people who’ve been training with the intensity of combat troops for years. Suddenly they’re released into a cocoon where prying reporters and overprotective parents aren’t allowed. Pre-competition testosterone is running high. Many Olympians are in tapering mode, full of excess energy because they’re maintaining a training diet of up to 9,000 calories per day while not actually training as hard.”

A Harvard University research conducted on 160 male and female swimmers in their 40s and 60s, indicated that those who regularly went for swims had more frequent sex.

Despite this there is no evidence to establish a direct link between rigorous training and an increase in sex drive, but a review suggested that sex can have possible psychological outcomes, as it increases alertness.

(This story originally appeared on Deccan Chronicle)