Resourceful kayaker Jessica Fox obviously knows it’s always a good idea to have a condom handy.
Why?
So, you can repair your broken kayak, of course.
“Bet you never knew condoms could be used for kayak repairs,” says the Instagram post that shows Fox carefully sliding a condom over the tip of her kayak.
View social media post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CR3ZKqSBEjU/
The video shows Fox first using what’s said to be a “carbon mixture,” an epoxy-like goo, to patch a hole in the vessel. Next comes the condom, described as “stretchy Much strong [sic],” to hold the patch in place.
It’s unclear where Fox got the condom, but there will be plenty to go around in the Olympic Village. Tokyo organizers plan to hand out 150,000 condoms to athletes – though they are encouraging them to bring them home rather than use them in the village.
Some athletes surmise that the delayed condom giveaway and the cardboard beds in village dormitories are all part of plan to discourage intimacy among the athletes. That theory was debunked by Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, who took to Twitter to show the “anti-sex” beds could take the pounding.
View social media post: https://twitter.com/McClenaghanRhys/status/1416567768938291203
For the record, Rio organizers gave out 450,000 condoms to athletes.
As for Fox, her ingenuity is outshined only by her skills in a canoe or kayak. On Tuesday, Fox took a bronze medal in kayak slalom, followed by a gold on Thursday in the canoe slalom. She won canoe slalom bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and silver in London four years earlier. She is the only paddler to have won Olympic medals in canoe and kayak slaloms.