Eyes on the Prize Indeed

It appears that the athletes at the Commonwealth Games have more to feel good about than just medals. An article on yahoo.ca has shown that the athletes have clogged the plumbing at their village with around 1000 used condoms. For a village that houses about 7000 athletes, that's not a bad percentage of active engagement.

Commonwealth Games Chief Mike Fernell has stated that this is a positive sign that athletes are engaging in safe sex. The introduction of a condom vending machine in the villages, no doubt, has aided this cause.

Disturbing trends in condom use have shown that people are less and less vigilant about the use of condoms, probably due to the perceived threat of catching the AIDS virus and other STDs. In the 90s, increased awareness and ad campaigns highlighting safe sex practices resulted in higher use of protective measures such as condoms. It appears that this message has been lost to some, with rates of sexually transmitted infections increasing and condom use decreasing for other population age groups. The most startling result of a recent survey on condom use showed that it was actually middle-aged people who were the most negligent in condom use, and contrary to popular opinion, the youngest demographic was also the most responsible.

It's an old message, but it's still worth stating: practice safe sex. Let's not be naive and think that sex won't happen. Even before the plumbing at the athletes' village took a beating, there were probably enough shenanigans when condoms weren't so readily available. All jokes aside, it's better to protect people rather than put our heads in the sand and deny that sex is going to happen.

That said, it baffles me that athletes are this active during a time of competition. I guess the old Muhammed Ali philosophy of abstinence in times of competition isn't for everyone. Or maybe we should acknowledge that athletes are people too.

I hope that this isn't a cause for more than one form of performance anxiety.