What happens in the Olympic village may stay in the Olympic village, but how does a setting that’s known for a lively hookup culture impact athletes’ performances?
As the 2024 Games heat up in Paris, we asked experts what the intimacy ban lift, which was set in place during the 2020 Tokyo games because of the COVID pandemic, might mean for this year’s event.
Sex does not seem to have any positive or negative impact on people’s physical capacities, sociologist and relationship expert Jennifer Gunsaullus told CBS News — but, there are a few related things that could affect performance, including hookup culture itself.
“In the Olympic Village, it’s so much around the hookup scene, which often involves staying up later, getting less sleep, drinking and partying … things like that. So in terms of the physical aspects, those seem to be the biggest issues,” she said. “Clearly, things like sleep and alcohol can definitely have an impact on your physical performance, a negative impact.”
There are also some psychological considerations around sex.
For example, sex can also release endorphins, which can have an impact on our mood and energy, said Joy Berkheimer, a sexologist and licensed marriage and family therapist.
While this won’t give you super strength or speed — a.k.a., physiological impacts — it could elevate mood and reduce worry.
“It may not make (performance) better, but it may remove mental blocks — the fear of not being able to do a thing,” she said.
The feedback you receive from a partner on your sexual performance can also make a mental mark — both good or bad.
“Someone is still expressing to you your capacity for doing things,” Berkheimer said. “(If) there’s a performance failure … that could definitely affect you psychologically.”
How a sexual encounter may affect someone all depends on the person too.
“Your personality, your values, your belief system — all of that,” Berkheimer said, adding, for example, if you have some shame around sex and engage in it, it could affect you differently than someone else. Or, for athletes who may have been relieved by the previous intimacy ban, potentially renewed social pressure could also create challenges.
Gunsaullus agrees everyone is affected differently mentally and emotionally by sex — and especially hooking up, since in comparison, sex with a long-term partner is more likely to be associated with comfort, connection, trust and safety, she said.
“If (sex with a long-term partner is) part of your routine — connecting and feeling grounded and loved, like that’s a great part of your Olympic performance potentially, but hooking up is a whole other crap shoot,” she explained. For example, does it reduce or increase stress for you? Does it help or hinder your sleep? Does it improve or interfere with your focus?
“There’s a small percentage of people who thrive in hookup culture,” she explained, pointing mostly to research on college campuses. “But (for a) majority of people, it’s a real up or down.”
To more fully understand the potential impact of sex on athletes, Berkheimer said more research is needed, especially on women.
“What was a little bit disappointing is most of the research was based off of male athletes,” Berkheimer said. “I understand there are a lot of male athletes, but I wish there was more research for the experience of a female athlete, because there’s so many layers to that.”