A New Olympic Record...of sorts

Festive Protection

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver set all kinds of records. I think the number of people who watched the USA/Canada hockey final had to be the largest ever. Certainly a record number of people now know about curling, and there HAD to be a record number of journalists covering the luge and bobsled runs, particularly after the fatal crash early in practice. I have not seen the numbers yet, but it might have been the most costly as well in terms of what Canada spent on its yearlong program to bring home the gold. But this is only marginally about athletes.
The committee who oversees such things have proclaimed this year's winter games to be the one which dispensed the most condoms at an Olympic contest! (not counting that a sponsor of the US curling team was a condom manufacturer). Claims that more than 100,000 condoms were distributed this year dwarf the previous record of 40,000 that was set in the Barcelona Summer Games in 1992, the first year such largesse was extended. So, let's see...6500 athletes would mean that each one got 15. Of course, remember that a good portion of those athletes were female, so...and they said it was the snow conditions or weather conditions that halted training and made for some poor performances...
However, so as not to cast too dim a light on the athletes, condoms were handed out everywhere during the 17 days, not just in the Olympic villages. Cruise ships docked nearby were supplied as well as concert venues and, well, anybody who wanted some got some. It was rumored that athletes from countries that had, uh, inferior protective devices were seen stuffing them in bags to take home.
Better safe than sorry, I guess, but they did not even come close to topping the number given out at Mardi Gras in Rio this year: more than 35 million were handed out there; and it's not like beads where you just toss them around your neck and hang them on the doorpost once you get home. Thirty-five million...lots of penance to do in Lent this year in Rio.
That would never happen in Green Bay!