Olympians Have Taken Tinder Use in Sochi to the "Next Level"
What happens when 3,000 world class athletes from around the globe are forced to spend two and a half weeks together in close quarters, mostly separated from the rest of society? Actually, more specifically, 3,000 young, fit and beautiful athletes who've been training for a competition for years, finally finished and are ready to blow off some steam? Well, you probably know where this is going. And so did the Olympic organizers, which is why orders of 100,000 condoms are not uncommon in the Olympic village. But what if a little more social lubricant is needed? In comes Tinder.
Tinder, the dating/hook-up app that connects nearby users, is all the rage inside Sochi's Olympic Village, at least according to 23-year-old American snowboarder Jamie Anderson.
"Tinder!" Anderson told Us Weekly. "Tinder in the Olympic Village is next level. It's all athletes! In the mountain village it's all athletes. It's hilarious. There are some cuties on there."
On Tinder, users create a profile linked to their Facebook page and can then see potential matches and then swipe right to "like" someone or left to "pass." It's basically Hot Or Not, but with the potential to lead somewhere. But if your potential athletes are Olympic athletes, don't be surprised if you're swiping right a lot more than left.
Of course, like any other app, Tinder can get extremely addicting, as Anderson experienced firsthand.
"There was a point where I had to be like OK, this is way too distracting," she said about Tinder. "I deleted my account to focus on the Olympics."
It turns out this was a good move for the U.S. athlete who won the gold medal in Women's Slopestyle Event on Sunday, Feb. 9.