Claim: A Facebook user posits that the Sweden Sports Federation has finally accepted and has declared sex as a sport.
Verdict: FALSE. In a statement, the S#spokesperson of the Swedish Sports Federation clarified it as untrue.
Full Text
A Facebook user posted that Sweden has declared sex as a sport and is set to host the first sex competition in the world.
Following this, the internet buzzed with the news that Sweden had declared sex as a sport and was organising a tournament.
Different media outlets and pages posted the claim on their socials. The complete sport reported that the country had recognised sex as a sport and finalised preparation for the inaugural sex. The tournament was set to commence on June 8, 2023. It was also reported that the sex tournament was to engage in daily sexual encounters that could span up to six hours.
Also, the popular Times of India posted on their site that a panel of judges would select the winners of the sex competition, and the audience would also weigh in on their choices. The participants would be judged based on their chemistry, their understanding of sex, and their degree of endurance to decide who would win the competition.
This claim, which has gone viral, has gathered various comments on how the sport would take place and how it will affect the young audience.
A Twitter user (Muneiwa Disel @Muneiwadisel) commented, “How will they pick the winners in this sport, and where will it be televised?” Another person, San Tanu (@Santanu), replied that her issue is how to keep the “sport” away from her kids.
The sensitivity of this claim, its virality in different countries, and societal response to it make it necessary for a fact-check.
Verification
We used Google Advanced search to find out where the story originated from and found out that it was from Dragan Bratic, a Swedish man who owns several strip clubs in the city of Linköping.
He had applied to make sex an official sport in the country and plans to organise an international tournament if permitted.
According to the reports, Mr Bratic is excited about the physical and mental benefits humans can enjoy by having regular sex.
We found out that the rumour started from a group founded in 2016 called the Swedish Sex Federation, and it says on its website that it is the first organisation in the world that practices sex as a sport.
A local radio outlet in Sweden had said that Mr Bratic had partnered with SSF to apply to the Country’s Sports Confederation to become a member. A statement was then issued by the Sports Confederation on April 26, 2023, acknowledging the application made, but it was incomplete and rejected.
In a report, the spokesperson for the Swedish Sports Confederation, Anna Setzman, clarified that it is false information aimed at smearing the Swedish Sports Federation.
Conclusion
The Swedish government did not declare sex as a sport. According to the Spokesperson of the Sports Federation, there is nothing like a sex tournament in Sweden or anywhere else.
