Gold rush at condom counter

Athletes at the Sydney Olympics are snapping up free condoms at a rate of knots.

Some 25,000 have been handed out since the Olympic village opened on September 2, two weeks before the start of the Games.

"The safe sex concept is alive and well in the village and it's not a single sex thing. Both sexes have been asking for them at the pharmacy," said village spokesman Jim Webster.

An Australian manufacturer has supplied 50,000 condoms to the village, home to some 16,000 Olympic athletes and officials. They are available free from the village pharmacy.

Not that sex is necessarily the order of the day.

"I'm quite sure that a lot of them are utilising what is a free issue to stock up and take them home with them," Webster said.

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