Letters: Free condoms give new-found interest at 'friendly' Olympics

Athletes will get free condoms at the Olympics. Photo/file

The Winter Olympians are going to be supplied with 110,000 condoms - in total, not individually - which would probably cost about $100,000 although they should be cheaper in bulk but I am not going to ask my local chemist about that quantity!

Some simple assumptions to make the maths easier, without any homophobia or cultural considerations - there are 3000 athletes there for 16 days which gives 2.29 items per individual or 4.5 per couple per day.

Assuming the 0.5 condoms are saved up for non competition days, it still seems a busy and fun time.

It is a cold environment although this suggests some warmth will be generated by the Olympic spirit.

Reference to the Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger" may not add much benefit to this analysis.

It might not just be the coming together of North and South Korea that provides the highlights of these friendly games.

Perhaps now it is clear why so many people try out for the Olympics with such enthusiasm.

I will be watching the events, the sporting ones, on TV with a new-found interest.

DENNIS FITZGERALD
Australia

Extreme weather a sign of the times

Jim Adams shows a sad lack of understanding of climate change (Letters, January 31).

For several decades, scientists have warned that human-induced global warming would disrupt global climate systems and increase the frequency and severity of a wide range of extreme weather events, not just cause uniform warming.

Thirty years ago, when the UN saw the need for an international panel of experts to address the issue, they did not title it the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Warming, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

So that far back, the real nature of the threat was recognised.

Tragically, politicians failed to heed the warnings and take the appropriate actions.

People around the world are now paying the price, with almost daily reporting of extreme weather events, from drought to inundation, and from extreme heat to extreme cold.

KEITH GARRATT
Ngongotaha