Sex, Games and Olympic Village life

By Mercy Oyaya

The face of the Olympics is well known the world over with athletes winning, losing, and straining every muscle of their bodies in the pursuit of podium glory.

With the disappointments from Team Kenya some have lost interest from watching the Olympics. But as critics, do we have a clue of what takes place behind the podium?

Gold or no gold, behind the scene is the athletes’ lives and the use of their bodies, one that centres on their time staying at the Olympic Village.

"Anyone who wants to be naive and say they don't know what's going on in the Village are lying to themselves," one former gold medallist and veteran of two Olympics told CNN of his previous experiences at the Games. "They know, the officials know, even the media. It's not a secret, everyone knows!

"(Sex) is all part of the Olympic spirit. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wouldn't say that, but it is, you can't shy away from it. Why do you think they give away so many condoms?"

The Athletes' Village at the Olympic Games is a unique environment: Nearly 3,000 tightly-packed apartments, containing over 10,000 of the world's finest athletes who have travelled from more than 200 countries around the world to stay for a two-week sporting jamboree.

A potent mix of fit, body beautiful, young people many of whom have abstained from sexual intercourse as part of a disciplined training regime -- being in the same place, at the same time; cocooned from the outside world by tight security and often revelling in the glory of success and attention of devoted crowds and the world's press.

It is maybe only human nature that people, when placed together, procreate to some extent, but that libidinous cocktail means London 2012 officials were right if the experiences of Sydney and Atlanta were anything to make 150,000 condoms -- a record for the modern Games -- available to the Village's frisky inhabitants, according to CNN's source

"The athletes don't know what to expect the first time they go to the Olympics, but it just happens," added the former gold medalist, who is now approaching his late 30s, looking back at his Olympic experiences. "As soon as you finish competing there's no sleeping until the next day!

This creates an environment where athletes can bond.

-Additional information from CNN