In the city of love, Olympic officials are encouraging athletes to get intimate by handing out free lubricant, 200,000 condoms and offering an STD clinic.
This contradicts what happens in other sporting events, where intimate relationships have been banned in an attempt to improve athletic performance.
So-called sexual bans for athletes have been around for thousands of years, but the actual science behind them is dubious.
For example, the ancient Greeks believed that semen contained divine energy and that ejaculating would drain a man’s energy.
More recently it has been suggested that sex drains testosterone from the body, makes competitors less aggressive, weakens their muscles or leaves them exhausted.
But while the science is far from confirmed, there is no conclusive evidence that sex significantly reduces athletic performance, and in fact there is some evidence that a date before an event may actually improve results.
Free condoms handed out to athletes at Paris Olympics
Sachets of sexual lubricant are also handed out to horny athletes in the City of Lights.
Condoms were also freely available at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Regardless of the scientific debate, dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have seen a huge surge in users around the Olympic Village.
Fortunately, this “free love” policy is unlikely to affect the outcome of any event, according to experts.
A review of studies in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine in 2000 noted that little research had been done on the topic but suggested that sex affects people differently.
“Some people’s performance will be enhanced by sex the night before a competition, while others’ performance will be affected,” the Canadian researchers said, adding that it would not have a major impact in either case.
They said the long-held theory that athletes should abstain from sex before competitions is a “myth” and may stem from a mistaken belief that “ejaculation draws testosterone out of the body.”
Exhaustion from sex is unlikely to be a factor because, they noted, “normal sexual intercourse between married couples expends only 25 to 50 calories, the energy equivalent of climbing two flights of stairs.”
In 1995, a small study by the American Society of Exercise Physiologists They tested 11 athletes on a treadmill, once before having sex and again 12 hours after, and compared their performance.
The researchers found that making love had no impact on their aerobic power, oxygen pulse, heart rate or blood pressure.
Lead researcher Tommy Boone, writing in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, said: “The data suggest that it is justified to discard the view that sexual intercourse decreases maximal exercise performance.”
Cardboard beds, introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, have returned to the Paris Games. They were rumoured to be “anti-sex”, supposedly too weak to accommodate two people, although organisers have denied this.
British swimming champion Tom Daley tested his cardboard bed on social media and found it was strong enough to withstand vigorous jumping.
Speaking about forcing athletes to abstain from sexual activity, he added: “The logic of such a policy appears to be related to the hypothesis that sexual intercourse diminishes the ability of athletes to perform efficiently or maximally.
‘It is highly likely that the restrictions placed on athletes have little to do with their physiological ability to maintain exercise intensity or perform at their peak.’
In 2016, scientists in Florence, Italy, reviewed all available evidence and concluded that athletes should be allowed to practice it.
“Abstaining from sexual activity before a sports competition is a controversial topic in the sports world,” wrote lead author Laura Stefani, a professor of sports medicine.
‘We do not show any solid scientific evidence to indicate that sexual activity has a negative effect on sports results.’
The researchers had examined hundreds of studies with the potential to provide evidence, large or small, on the impact of sexual activity on athletic performance.
One of them found that the strength of female athletes did not vary if they had had sex the night before. Another, in fact, observed a beneficial effect on the performance of marathon runners.
The Olympic rings are seen at the Eiffel Tower, Sunday, July 14, 2024, in Paris.
In an article published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, Dr Stefani added: ‘We clearly show that this topic has not been well researched and only anecdotal stories have been published.
‘In fact, unless it takes place less than two hours beforehand, evidence suggests that sexual activity may have a beneficial effect on athletic performance.’
However, many athletes continue to abstain from sexual intercourse before competition, either by their own choice or at the request of a coach.
Gareth Southgate has reportedly banned English footballers from having sex before matches during major competitions, even though the Three Lions failed to win anything under his management.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola also enforces a strict rule that players must not have sex after midnight.
At the 1998 World Cup in France, England manager Glenn Hoddle banned players from having sex for the entire tournament, but they were eliminated in the second round anyway.
Cristiano Ronaldo (left) believes sex improves his game, while boxer Carl Froch (right) didn’t make love for three months before knocking out George Groves in 2014
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali (left) abstained from sex for six weeks before a fight, while Manchester United icon George Best (right) swore by a bit of sex.
Football legend Pelé believed in the rejuvenating effects of an intimate relationship before a big match.
And during the 2010 World Cup, England manager Fabio Capello banned players from having sex because he believed it would be a distraction.
But on the contrary, some of the biggest names in football have said that having sex the night before a big match improves their performance.
They include Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazilian legend Pelé and Manchester United icon George Best.
Many boxers believe sex has harmful effects. Muhammad Ali abstained for six weeks before a fight and former British champion Carl Froch did not have sex for three months before knocking out George Groves in their world title fight in 2014.
In 2015, when Conan O’Brien asked Irish MMA star Conor McGregor if he abstained from sex before fights, he replied: “That’s a superstition I don’t follow. I definitely have as much sex as I can.”
In the classic film Rocky, the eponymous boxer’s trainer, Mickey, warned him, “Women make your legs weak.”
Other, more real-life examples have shown mixed beliefs about sex and athletics.
Marty Liquori, one of the world’s top 5,000-meter runners, once said, “Sex makes you happy, and happy people don’t run a mile in 3:47.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that 15-time golf champion Tiger Woods had stopped having sex in the run-up to the Masters, which he went on to lose.
American baseball legend Casey Stengel, who managed the New York Yankees during the 1950s, quipped: “Staying up with a woman all night has never hurt any professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that ruins it.”
The policy of banning athletes from having sex was supported by some of history’s greatest thinkers. The Greek philosopher Plato wrote in 444 BC: “Olympic competitors should avoid sexual intimacy before races.”
Fortunately for lustful Olympians in Paris, things have changed.
