Athlete explains why 'sex has always been an issue' at the Olympics

The Olympics is a hotbed of testosterone and adrenaline, so it’s no wonder that pulses – and libidos – run high at the games.

Indeed, one former medal-winner has described sex as an “inevitable” part of the global event, and one which she has experienced first-hand.

Susen Tiedtke, 55, a German former long jumper, who performed in two summer Olympics, spoke to newspaper Bild in 2021, after Covid restrictions at the Tokyo games essentially placed a “sex ban” on athletes.

“I find the whole thing hilarious. It doesn't work at all,” she said. “Sex is always an issue in the [Olympic] village.”

She explained: “The athletes reach their physical peak at the Olympics. Once the competition is over, they want to release their energy.”

She admitted that, during the event, there is “one party after another” and where alcohol is involved, anything can happen.

And yet, she said, coaches were strict about potential trysts, telling their teams that sex before competing was a bad idea because “when you have sex, the body first has to recharge itself energetically” and so they should abstain for the good of their performance.

However, Tiedtke acknowledged that once an athlete’s event was over, all bets were off.

Susen Tiedtke was voted 'Miss Olympics' and the 'Most Beautiful Athlete' in her heydey(Gray Mortimore/Allsport)

She revealed euphemistically that Olympic village roommates were always “considerate if you needed the room to yourself…” but conceded that “you could always hear people ‘partying’ and sometimes it was hard to sleep.”

Speaking of her own experience, she said that her father, who was also her coach, was very strict, adding that “if a boy even wanted to go out with me, he had to do 100 push-ups first.”

“I had to meet secretly,” she confessed: “Otherwise I would never have been with anyone.”

But, in fact, she did end up with someone. And that someone would become her husband.

“I met my future husband Joe Greene (also a long jumper) in Barcelona in 1992,” she told Bild.

Asked if they did more than just “hold hands,” Tiedtke said suggestively: “Our competitions were towards the end of the games” but “nothing went on before, and that was hard.”

The 2024 Paris Olympics is due to kick off on 24 July. But it’s safe to assume that there will be plenty of fireworks beyond the opening ceremony…

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