[This is part 6 of our ten day most memorable Olympic moments countdown to the 2012 Olympics. The daily non-Olympian athletic gratuitous eye candy is just a bonus.]

The London Games are but a few days away and the city will soon be awash with millions of visitors, some of them there to participate in the spectacle known as the Olympics, and others as spectators of the premier celebration of the world’s best athletes. While those two groups make up the majority of London’s expected visitor count, a third group looms large too. They won’t be there to participate in athletic contests, nor will they be in London to share in the camaraderie of the viewing stands. They’ll be experiencing London during the Olympics in an entirely different way: on their backs.

According to Great Britain’s Anti-Trafficking Alliance, London is soon to be overwhelmed with a massive influx of prostitutes in preparation for the Games. The group bases its claim on evidence that major sporting events have been linked with increases in trafficking, prostitution and sexual assault in the past. That they throw ‘sexual assault’ into the mix should tell you they are not in favor of London turning into a giant brothel, but are not beyond turning a few tricks themselves; while it would appear the group’s claim makes sense, the sources they cite to back it up are faulty and have been heavily discounted within the social services arena. Their one valid claim is that the European Parliament passed a resolution in 2006 stating that major sporting events result in a ‘temporary and spectacular increase in the demand for sexual services’. But like the Anti-Trafficking Alliance’s warning cry, assumptions rather than facts were used for the basis of that piece of legislation.

The problem is that when the subject is sex, the puritanically bent always work themselves into a lather. In their minds you can’t have an increase of prostitution without an increase of sex trafficking and that of course goes hand in hand with child prostitution. As proof they site a fellow sex trafficking activist organization’s claim that the Super Bowl coincides with a spike in trafficking of underage girls every year and pimps have hired cab drivers to turn their vehicles into mobile brothels. I’ve been to three Super Bowls and you are lucky if you can find a cab much less one to get your rocks off in. Besides everyone knows that if you were looking for kids to molest you just needed to find out which hotel Jerry Sandusky was staying at.

The shill cry of children being smuggled across the border to face a life of forced sexual slavery aside, the metropolitan Police have reported an upswing in commercial sex works in the five Olympic boroughs. Duh. With the millions of touri expected at the Games, the numbers are in their favor. And visitors from other countries will find England’s relaxed attitude about prostitution inviting to say the least. Forget Las Vegas, with the Olympics in town it’s gonna be ‘what happens in London, stays ion London.” And if there is one thing that past Olympic Games have shown, it’s that a large part of what stays in London is going to be used condoms.

The Olympics will be providing 150,000 condoms for athletes this year, or about 15 per competitor. This is up from the 100,000 rubbers shipped in for Beijing. Durex, the condom manufacturer of the Olympic Games, is also prepared to provide an emergency shipment of an additional 20,000 condoms; at the Sydney Games the company had to rush a shipment after their initial 70,000 condom stash proved inadequate. A truly memorable Olympic moment is when you are all set to score only to find there are no condoms to be had.

In his book Sex and the Olympics, author James Buckley says the IOC’s first condom give-away was at the Seoul Games in 1988 where 8,500 rubbers were passed out, which was about one condom per athlete. Sydney upped the ante and still ran out. And at the 2004 Games in Athens, 130,000 condoms were provided to athletes’ best buddies. ‘‘From all reports, the majority of those are getting used, which is quite incredible,’’ Buckley said.

Hopefully the organizers of the London Games will pay less attention to the shrill outcry of the Anti-Trafficking Alliance and instead heed the warning from what happened at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. At that competition, 8,000 condoms were provided to competitors, half of which were snatched up before the opening ceremony. Unfortunately the host city was not prepared for the deluge of condom used and the city’s sewer system backed up, blocked by contraceptives that had been disposed of down the toilet.

Buckley says the athletes village at the Olympics is a hot bed of raging hormones and extremely fit and hot bodies, or as one Olympian put it, “The face may only be a 7, but the body is a 20.” Hook-ups between athletes is the norm. “There’s a lot of sex going on,” says women’s soccer goalkeeper and gold medalist Hope Solo. Ryan Lochte, destined to be the London Games’ fair-haired boy says “70 percent to 75 percent of Olympians” have sex during the Games. “Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do,” he says. It’s no wonder the Games’ organizers have ordered in prophylactics like pizza.

Part of the allure, besides being surrounded by hotties is that within the village athletes are protected. There is no press, there are no fans, and many of the young competitors are out from under the watchful eyes of their parents for the first time too. Sex is not just in the air, it’s everywhere you look. “I’ve seen people having sex out in the open, getting down and dirty on grass between buildings,” says Solo. Lochte tells the story of a teammate at the Athens Games who had sex on his village balcony. “Another team saw it, which led to a big argument because they accused me. I said, ‘No, I’m innocent,’” Lochte says, laughing. “I’m always innocent.”

Two-time Olympian American swimmer Eric Shanteau says the village becomes “a pretty wild scene, the biggest melting pot you’ve been in.” Women’s soccer player Brandi Chastain recounts how she and her friends entered the dining hall at the Atlanta Games to loud cheers. “So we look over and see two French handballers dressed only in socks, shoes, jockstraps, neckties and hats on top of a dining table, feeding one another lunch,” she says. American shot-putter and two-time Olympic medalist John Godina said late night hook-ups and friends disappearing for days at a time is the norm. “It’s like Vegas,” he reports. “You learn not to ask a lot of questions.”

But it’s not just about sex to the athletes. It’s about making a connection too. For most the effort and dedication to reach the pinnacle of their chosen sport is a lonely road. Training consumes the bulk of their days leaving little time to meet people socially. And not unlike with other celebrities, fame is a factor too. “Think about how hard it is to meet someone,” says three-time Olympian and water polo captain Tony Azevedo, “Now take an Olympian who trains from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day. When the hell are you supposed to meet someone? Now the pressure is done, you’re meeting like-minded people … and boom.” Beijing Olympic javelin thrower, Breaux Greer adds, “If you find somebody you like and who likes you, your world’s complete for a second, and you compete well.”

At the Montreal Games in 1976, four-time gold medalist Greg Louganis says he became friendly with the Soviet Union diving team and soon found himself partying in their rooms. “Once events were over, our entire diet was caviar, vodka and Russian champagne. It was crazy,” he says. Louganis was still closeted at the time and appreciated how much more openly affectionate toward each other the Russians were. “ I just drank that up, since I was still discovering who I was,” he says. “But I had my eyes on one Soviet. I’d curl up in his lap; we’d hug and cuddle. I felt so protected.” Louganis says it never progressed past that because the guy was already hooking up with one of the other male divers on the team.

Being young, toned, hot, and single has its advantages at the Games. “My last Olympics, I had a girlfriend – big mistake,” Lochte says. “Now I’m single, so London should be really good. I’m excited.” Being partnered can have other negative effects too.

Russell and Lauryn Mark, a married couple on the Australian shooting team said they were told they could not room together. Despite doing little in keeping members of the opposite sex away from each other, the athletes village dormitories are segregated by gender. The Marks say that they normally room together, but that the Head of Mission for the Australian team told them they had to split up or get a hotel outside of the Olympic village. ”The stupid part of this, which I have argued to them, is that there are tons of gay couples on the Olympic team who will be rooming together,” Russell says, “so we are being discriminated against because we are heterosexual.”

His wife agrees. ”I am very frustrated,” she said, “because in sport there are a lot of same-sex couples, and it’s okay to be partners with someone of the same sex but if you are heterosexual you are penalized.”

Maybe if they whine a bit louder about how good the gays have it the Anti-Trafficking Alliance will take their case up as one of their pet causes.

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]