WASHINGTON — Australian Olympian Jess Fox has won two medals in Tokyo so far. She won the bronze in Kayak slalom earlier this week and on Thursday, she took home the gold medal in the canoe slalom event, winning by nearly four seconds.
As with any event that requires special equipment, athletes can only operate at the top of their game if that equipment is in tip-top shape. A hole in a canoe or kayak could sink an athlete's hope at gold. So last week, Fox showed one unique way her team plugged a hole on her kayak, using something that was definitely not designed for boat repair.
"Bet you never knew condoms could be used for kayak repairs," the Olympian posted on TikTok.
The video shows a man rubbing a carbon mixture on the bow of the kayak, into the hole. Then, a condom is stretched over the mixture to complete the patch. "It gives the carbon a smooth finish," the captions read.
Over the past several decades, Olympic organizers have ensured there were thousands of condoms available for athletes during the Summer and Winter games. This year, Tokyo organizers planned to hand out more than 150,000 condoms to athletes but only as they leave for home. Though it's unlikely they expected one would make headlines like this.
