ONE LAST COMPETITION THAT REQUIRES NO STYLE POINTS

Athletes here may be going for the gold, but they're trying to score a lot less than in previous games. Olympic officials produced 10,000 condoms for use by athletes at the Olympic Village, but Chinese media are reporting that less than a third of the packs have been scooped up. Olympians have been given free condoms since Barcelona in 1992 to help promote safe sex .

"There are many young, strong, single people in the Athletes Village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available," Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told the news media.
"A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters." In Beijing, the condoms are placed into brochures about HIV, available at the medical centre at the village.

In 2002, around 100,000 condoms were handed out during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City against the backdrop of protests by religious groups. While they ran out of 70,000 condoms during the Sydney Games - 20,000 more had to be brought in - Athens doubled the number. Matthew Syed, a former english table tennis player explained it best: "I played my first Games in Barcelona in 1992 and got laid more often in those two and a half weeks than in the rest of my life up to that point . . . Barcelona was, for many of us Olympic virgins, as much about sex as it was about sport."
Needless to say, the official closing ceremony will mark the beginning of the official athlete party season, as the athletes seek to work off their pent up energy (and with the knowledge that they will not be required to be urine tested), and may seek to consummate any new acquaintances they may have developed over the two+ week Olympic season. While many will settle for a quiet departure from a grueling competition, we must remember that these are primarily young, attractive, and yes- spoiled, rich competitors who may wish to cap off their Olympics in style. And besides, four years is a long way away, more than enough time to forget one last encounter. If you think about it (and I obviously have), it actually makes perfect sense. They all have hot bodies, they have adrenaline pumping through their veins, and they are thrown together in the Olympic village so many of them take on the mindset of what happens at the Olympics, stays at the Olympics! In the 1988 Games in Seoul, there were so many used condoms found on the roofs of the British team's residences that the British Olympic Association banned outdoor sex. Since people didn't obey, organizers in Beijing thought it would be more effective to simply pass out thousands of free condoms to the athletes.So, all hail the Olympians, with officially sanctioned condoms at the ready.......let the champagne flow, and let them say their farewells in style. One can only imagine the exploits of our American athletes, as our "redeem team" evolves into the "everyone I have seen" team. Party on.