Several news outlets including India Today, The Times Of India, News 18 and Hindustan Times falsely reported that Sweden has introduced a European Sex Championship after recognising sex as a sport in the country.
According to the reports, the sex tournament was supposed to be held over six weeks starting from June 8, 2023. An excerpt from The Times of India reads, "The Championship will span over several weeks and will feature participants competing for six hours every day. According to reports, the participants will have 45 minutes to an hour to engage with their matches or activities."
BOOM found the reports to be false. Swedish fact checker Asa Larsson from Källkritikbyrån told BOOM that neither has sex been approved as a sport in the country nor will there be a tournament on it. Further, in a statement to BOOM, Anna Setzman, head of communication and press, Swedish Sports Confederation, confirmed that the information in Indian media outlets is false.
The same was reported on India Today , News 18, Hindustan Times, News Now Nation, Latestly OpIndia.
Hindustan Times and Times of India had later updated their reports.
Right leaning Twitter handle The Tatva in a tweet claimed that judges and audience shall be taking into consideration several factors while deciding the winner of the tournament. Here is an archive of the tweet.
Right leaning handle Megh Updates also tweeted claiming that Sweden is all set to host the sex championship in the country. Click here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a relevant keyword search on Google and was directed to a news report by Swedish news outlet Göteborgs-Posten refuting the same viral claim in April this year. According to the article, an organisation named Swedish Sex Association had applied to the Swedish Sports Confederation to consider sex as a sport in the country in January, 2023 and organise a tournament on it.
The report further stated that Dragan Bratic, representing the Swedish Sex Association, submitted the application in January and sought to be a member of the Swedish confederation as well. Bratic was quoted as saying to a news outlet, "We're registered, we have an organization number and it's okay to train and compete in sex, it's a sport like any other." Later, the Confederation announced in a press release that the application was rejected.
The Federation's outgoing chairman, Björn Eriksson, was quoted as saying, "It's pure power seeking. It will not meet our requirements and I can inform you that this application will be rejected. We have other things to do." Bratic allegedly runs various strip clubs in the country.
BOOM reached out to Swedish Sports Confederation for a comment.
Anna Setzman, head of communication and press, Swedish Sports Confederation, in a statement told BOOM, "The Swedish Sports Confederation vigorously denies the false information being spread in some international media about Sweden and Swedish sports. We have drawn attention to the fact that in some parts of the international media news is currently being spread that a sex federation has become member of the Swedish Sports Confederation. The information aims to smear Swedish sports and Sweden. There is no Sex Federation that is a member of the Confederation. All this information is false."
Åsa Larsson, fact checker with Swedish fact checking organisation Källkritikbyrån, told BOOM, "This is an incorrect claim. Sex has not been recognised as a sport in Sweden."
Upon opening the site www.swedishsxfederation.com a pop up states that the European Championship in Sex will be live streamed on www.livesexhouse.com. Below is a screenshot of the same.
The 'about us' section states that the federation was founded in 2016 in Sweden and is the only organization in the world that practices sex as a sport. BOOM however could not find any reference of the Swedish Sport Confederation with the Swedish Sex Federation, which proves that the latter is an independent body. We have reached out to the Swedish Sex Federation and will update the story as and when we get a response.
(With inputs from Archis Chowdhury)
The article has been updated to include Swedish Sports Confederation's response.