Swedish sports federation rejected application to make sex an official sport
Viral claims that Swedish sports authorities had recognized sex as a national sport made global social media headlines in June. However, the reports are false: The Swedish Sports Confederation confirmed the rejection of an application for official recognition of sex as a sport. The reason for the allegations was a “sex competition” organized by the SSF. The event was not supported by the national sports federation.
“BREAKING NEWS: Sweden has officially recognized intercourse as a sport! It’s official folks,” read a Facebook post published in Kenya on June 6, 2023.
The allegation was also reported in an article by a media group in South Africa.
Elsewhere, the story has been picked up by blogs and websites in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Nigeria, where a former senator has advised the country to abide by sports rules approved by the International Olympic Committee.
Unofficial competition
The rumor traces back to a group called the Swedish Sex Federation (SSF), formed in 2016, which bills itself as “the only organization in the world that practices sex as a sport” (archived).
She boasts on her website that she was “the first organization in the world to organize the World Sex Championships.”
According to local reports (here and here), Swedish strip club owner Dragan Bratic had teamed up with SSF to submit an application for membership to the country’s official National Sports Federation (Riksidrottsförbundets – RF) (archived here and here).
In a statement (archived) by RF on April 26, 2023, the application made earlier in the year was recognized but rejected incomplete and “without examination”.
The claims began circulating days before the start of an event organized by the SSF called the “European Sex Championship,” which was scheduled to start on June 8, 2023.
However, tweets The event’s host account revealed a one-day delay due to “technical issues” with “hackers.”
On June 12, 2023, the contest appeared to be underway and tweets called for votes.
Either way, claims that Swedish sport sanctioned the event and approved the application to make sex an official sport in the country are false.
‘Nonsense’
In January 2023, RF chairman Björn Eriksson told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that the sports federation had received an application for accreditation from the SSF, but it was unanimously rejected.
“I just hope this nonsense goes away,” Eriksson added at the time.
Months later, the position of the Russian Federation remains unchanged.
“False information about Sweden and Swedish sport is currently being disseminated in some international media – this is being vigorously denied,” RF Interests Policy Manager Cecilia Lunell told AFP Fact Check in a statement.
“The Swedish Sports Confederation has drawn attention to the fact that some parts of the international media are currently breaking the news that a sex association has become a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation,” she added.
“It is false information aimed at slandering Swedish sport and Sweden. There is no sex association that is a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation.”