▲’Gangwon 2024 Opening Ceremony’ torch lighting photo: Yonhap News
The 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics Organizing Committee faced strong opposition from domestic parent groups when it distributed condoms to participating athletes.
On the 23rd, the National Federation of Parents’ Organizations issued a statement criticizing, “Distributing condoms at the Youth Olympic Games, which should be a place to cultivate a healthy body and a sound mind, is an act that undermines the spirit of the Olympics.”
“It is very wrong for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hand out condoms to teenagers and make a lame excuse that they are curious teenagers,” he said, adding, “If this happens again, the Youth Olympic Games should be abolished.”
In the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics, which opened on the 19th, 1,802 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 78 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) from around the world participated.
Previously, the organizing committee secured 3,000 condoms and placed 2,500 at the Gangneung Athletes’ Village and 500 at the Jeongseon Athletes’ Village, and prepared for athletes to take them free of charge at the medical room window of each athlete’s village.
The Olympics, a festival for young athletes around the world, has been providing free condoms to participating athletes for over 30 years to prevent unwanted pregnancy or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
The first time condoms were distributed at an Olympics was at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Starting with the distribution of 8,500 condoms at this time, condoms have continued to be provided to athletes at subsequent Olympics.
In the 1990s, as concerns about AIDS grew, the number of condoms distributed was greatly increased.
Then, at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil, 450,000 doses were distributed, the largest number ever due to concerns about the Zika virus epidemic, and at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, 110,000 doses were distributed, the largest number among Winter Olympics standards.
160,000 doses were also distributed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan, held in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IOC maintains the principle that condoms must be provided to participating athletes not only in the Adult Olympics but also in the Youth Olympics.
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2024-01-23 06:23:38
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