The Pyeongchang Olympics may have broken the record for the most condoms to ever be distributed at the Winter Games, but at least one competitor — U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon — has expressed disappointment at the “generic” contraceptive.
In an Instagram Story posted Saturday, Rippon shared some “disappointing news” with his 143,000 followers about what he referred to as the “condom drama.”
“Like, I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting. I thought maybe they’d have like Olympic rings on them or they’d be all different colors, but, no. It’s all a myth,” Rippon said, his tone deadpan.
“And I’m not, like, upset,” the 28-year-old continued, pausing for effect. “I’m disappointed.”
Rippon stressed, however, that he was taking the matter in stride.
“It’s alright. Life isn’t always what it seems and sometimes the condoms are just generic,” he said. “And sometimes they’re not only just generic, sometimes they’re only available at the polyclinic outside the gym. And that’s okay.”
Earlier this month, news emerged that some 110,000 condoms would be distributed at the Pyeongchang Games — the most of any Winter Olympics in history. If divvied up between the 2,925 athletes competing at the games, that works out to about 37 condoms for each one.
According to Korea Biomedical Review, South Korean condom maker Convenience donated 100,000 of the condoms, worth more than $93,000, and the Korean Association for AIDS Prevention donated an additional 10,000.
Distribution of condoms at an Olympics is a tradition that stretches back to at least 1988, when condoms were made freely available at that year’s Summer Games in Seoul to prevent the spread of HIV, reported Time magazine. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, 100,000 condoms were distributed; two years later, at Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 450,000 were made available.
Rippon is one of Team USA’s first two openly gay athletes competing in the Winter Olympics. He recently made headlines for reportedly refusing to meet Mike Pence over the vice president’s ant-LGBTQ record.