'Athletes Absolutely Party': Sex, Sports, and Social Media at the Rio Olympics

Like Athena stepping out of Zeus' head, Alipour's feature birthed an entire genre of sports journalism: the Olympic fuckfest exposé. But while it's nice to imagine the Italian water polo team shagging—here, let's squeeze in a visual of lycra-clad ass cheeks so perfectly high and round they're like inbuilt floatation devices—Alipour's article may have ruined the fun for everyone else.

"I can't lie, I'm proud of the story, which really did become a worldwide phenomenon almost overnight and forever changed the way we look at Olympians, for better or worse," Alipour tells me over email.

"I heard that coaches and team officials keep a closer eye on their athletes, going as far as to cite my story and even distribute it in team meetings, as a warning to celebrate responsibly. One Olympian even told me his would-be Village partner cited my piece when declining his overtures. Basically, I'm that buddy at a bar who just gets in the way: a total game-killer."

But is it really possible that one (admittedly jaw-dropping) feature extinguished the burning loins of an entire generation of athletes? We decided to find out whether Alipour's article has truly killed the game for those competing at Rio.

Even if athletes have the chat to get past the objections of their potential Olympian bedmate, there's something they may need to consider: social media. Sports stars are under greater scrutiny than ever before, and it only takes one rogue picture for the whole world to find about your bedroom exploits—and that's before the press gets hold of the fact that the Swedish handball team was involved.

Although by no means in its infancy—Twitter had been around for six years, and had 185 million users—the 2012 Games were the first in which the full potential of social media was realized. Dubbed the first "social media games," Twitter's own metrics reported that over 150 million people tweeted about the Olympics throughout the 16 days of competition.

But some athletes, unaware of the potential damage an ill-judged selfie or distasteful joke could cause, were caught out—like the Swiss footballer sent home after directing a racial slur at the South Korean team, or the Greek triple-jumper banned after racist tweets about African immigrants. Social media undid—or at least profoundly damaged—athletes' careers at the 2012 Games. When you factor in the fact that all the stories of debauchery in Alipour's piece all took place pre-2012, it's hard to imagine that today's athletes would be able to behave as freely.

"Once upon a time the locker room door was a closed one, but with social media now it's much more open for the fans," says sports writer-turned-communications professor Nick Bowman. "The link between being a spectator and being a participant ends up being blurred… This is 2016. People know they're being watched; there are endorsement dollars on the line. You can't say and you can't do things."

A double standard exists around the sexual conduct of sportsmen and sportswomen. "My guess is that promiscuity alone doesn't hurt a male athlete's reputation, but for women it's different. Because if a female athlete gets seen walking back from the dorm she's not supposed to be in, that's an outrage. Because you're allowed to be a sex object, but not to have sex."

Bowman believes that 2016 will be the year where promiscuity in the Village will be coded as dangerous behavior; rather than being framed as something that Olympians do. "With Zika, sex is being seen as dangerous. Dangerous to yourself; to your career; to your country. It gets rid of one frame—the frame of promiscuity—and replaces it with another. You have the photo of an athlete sneaking out of their dorm at night, with the headline 'Athlete Risks Career and Country For A Night Of Pleasure.'"

"Athletes absolutely party, socialize and celebrate during their Olympic experience, but they don't do it in the Village," says two-time Olympic rower and American bronze medal winner Megan Kalmoe." She explains that while things get a little more rowdy post-closing ceremonies, for the most part it's all pretty tame. "Dancing, singing, some drinking, but not mass chaos." Reassuringly, Olympic athletes—like other lesser mortals— aren't immune to the salty charms of a late-night carb fest. "McDonald's is a popular spot because it is one of the few stations in the dining hall that is open between 2 AM and 5 AM."

As Bowman points out, this year's Olympian's have another reason to be chaste: the Zika virus. Although the mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted virus is relatively benign for most people and only causes mild infections, it has been linked to serious birth abnormalities for pregnant women. Plus, when you're competing in the most important tournament of your life, even a mild Zika infection—characterised by fever and muscle and joint pain—can really fuck up your game.

Alert to the risks, Olympic officials have shipped in an unprecedented amount of condoms—450,000 in total. The figure is higher than in previous years, partly because around 100,000 female condoms are being made available for the first time. The Australian team is even taking extra precautions with specialist anti-viral condoms designed to reduce Zika transmission, courtesy of a Melbourne pharmaceutical company.

"Olympic teams need to be fully educated about anything we know about the virus and the risks associated with it, before they go," says Duane J. Gubler, a professor of infectious diseases at Duke University. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure. I'm not sure you can be overly cautious. It doesn't mean you need to stop your activities, it just means that you need to be aware of the risks and how to prevent infection [by using condoms] if it's there."

While August is a low-risk season when it comes to transmitting mosquito-borne diseases, Professor Gubler explains that's no guarantee. "The risk will be low because of the season, but you can't always predict." He tells me that Zika is transmitted from men to women through semen, and that it may be spread through oral sex. While the overall risk is low, "we don't really know the impact of sexual transmission yet." He advises Olympians to cover their arms and legs in long clothes and insect repellent to ward off mosquitoes, and to use condoms during sex.

That said, it's possible that Olympics officials might be flogging a load of unused femidoms on eBay this year. Kalmoe tells me that the media stories about Olympic village sex parties are just that: stories.

"People who come to the Olympics as competitors are not barbarians. The Village is an incredible and unique place, and it is a privilege to be a part of it."