libido, frustration and performance… Four questions about preconceived ideas about the sexuality of high-level athletes

The Paris 2024 Olympic Village will provide athletes and their teams with more than 230,000 condoms during next summer’s Games. A free offer common during Olympic competitions that attract millions of visitors from five continents. More than 450,000 protections were distributed in Rio in 2016, 160,000 in Tokyo in 2021. Paris, “City of Love”, is therefore within a reasonable average.

But preconceived ideas about the sexuality of high-level athletes persist. Carole Maître, gynecologist and sports doctor at INSEP (National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance) answers that.

Does sports activity lead to increased libido?

Are sportsmen and women hot dogs? No, no more than average, Carole Maitre replies categorically. “Their sexuality is like that of the general population. According to a survey we did a few years ago, the frequency of sexual relations is the same as in the general population of their age.”specifies the specialist.

From a purely physical point of view, sporting activity has no effect on libido. It can increase testosterone levels “within normal limits”, specifies the doctor. Conversely, even: “Intense sports such as long-distance running, cycling and all sports that lead to a reduction in fat mass are accompanied by an energy deficit that may be accompanied by a reduction in testosterone.”

Thus, more than half of the athletes do not change their sexual activity before, during or after competitions.

Does sexual frustration improve sports performance?

“Frustration of any kind – sexual or otherwise – does not lead to achievement”emphasizes Carole Maître, specifying that “It’s even quite contradictory.” According to the specialist, “You have to be good in body, in mind to perform well. So that’s the training part, but it’s also the personal development part. It’s undeniable, the two are really closely related.”

Carole Maître adds it “Athletes learn stress management and to anticipate environmental stresses, depending on the challenges competitions.” Preserving family and personal balance is therefore important. “Sexuality comes into the personal domain, so that’s part of it, but it’s not just that, adds Carole Maitre.We may well have an athlete who is going to perform, even if he or she has not had sexual activity for six months.” Thus, the sports doctor emphasizes, “more than 80% of athletes believe that their sexuality has no impact on their sporting performance.”

The stress factor also does not seem to have any effect on the sexual activity of athletes, specifies the sports doctor. “On the whole, they don’t increase their sexuality before competitions. Everyone experiences it in their private life, according to their relationships, according to what they want. Neither doctors, coaches nor anyone interferes in the intimate sphere of athletes.”

Do some coaches practice “sex politics”?

During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the newspaper The team had revealed that the players’ families had been authorized by Didier Deschamps to visit them. An indiscretion that had sparked fantasies about the coach’s influence on the private lives of his players, or even a real “sex politics”.

There is nobody “No such adviceinsists the sports doctor. A World Cup in Qatar means moving away from the family and personal sphere. Some players were young fathers. It is part of maintaining the balance between the challenge of competition and personal life. To have allowed this presence of companions and children is important for the personal balance and development of each person.” A moment that does not prevent the athletes from investing in the competition.

On this subject, Carole Maître explains that this summer in Paris,“near the Olympic village, there will be opportunities for those who want to have a companion with the children. This is important, it is also part of the athlete’s life. It is a man, a woman, who works with the body at a high level. level, aiming to have those results, but personal balance is an integral part of performance.”

Do the Olympic Games increase the number of STIs?

The distribution of condoms is part of a more general campaign to prevent the transmission of sexual diseases. The period of the Olympic Games is a time of great mixing of populations: athletes, staff, employees, volunteers, millions of spectators… “As in any large gathering, we will fear what is transmissible, but also seasonal respiratory infections, but no more STDs than other risks“, decides the specialist. Prevention of public health risks “is part of the organizers’ responsibility and it is very good that there is no taboo on the subject!”

However, the amount of condoms distributed – 230,000 – is not representative of the sexual activity of athletes during the playing period: “It will cover the needs, but not all of them will necessarily be used by athletes. There are even a certain number that will be considered collectors’ items.”