At the end of May 2023, a message spread on social networks and the media that Sweden had registered sex as a sport and would soon host the first European Championship. We checked if this is true.
The fact that the European Sex Championship starts on June 8 in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, reported many Russian federal media, for example "News» And "Gazeta.ru», as well as journalists from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Croatia And Bulgaria. In most materials separately TBCthat Sweden allegedly became the first country in the world to register sex as a sport, and in publications on social networks this part of the message became basic. In Telegram, according to the TGStat service, the total reach of such posts in Russian was at least 20 million views. Popular channels shared the news, for example, “Ukraine now: news, war, Russia» (440,000 views), "Insider UA» (495,000) and "Sheikh Tamir» (223,000). Some publications also colorfully describe the disciplines in which the competition will take place.
Information about such a “championship” was published on website Swedish Sex Federation. Some of the media refer to it as the primary source of information about the upcoming competition. Indeed, on the site there is chapter with the disciplines in which the participants will compete, but it is not said that sex is officially recognized as a sport in Sweden. Formulation in section “About Us” is vague. It says that the SSF (Swedish Sex Federation) was founded in 2016 and that "after seven years of hard work, the SSF is much better organized, accepted and approved by the Swedish authorities as an organization that trains and competes in six sports."
The "Swedish Sex Federation" is not just a website, but a registered organization, it is confirmed Swedish registers. The founder of SSF is Dragan Bratic, known in the Swedish press as the king of striptease. He previously ran a chain of strip clubs across the country, but in 2020 he was accused of tax evasion and received ban on doing business (although, apparently, at least one of his establishments are still open).
Bratich really served application to register sex as a sport back in January 2023. Representative of the Swedish Sports Confederation Bjorn Eriksson at the same time stated, that “this is stupidity,” and then the confederation issued a refusal to register, which Bratich was very upset about and which he discussed in detail wrote on your Facebook page.
Despite the fact that Sweden does not recognize sex as a sport, it seems that the match will take place in any weather. May 25 about his participation in the “championship” reported Croatian porn actress Maria Zadravec. In an interview with the Austrian site Kosmo.at, Maria told, that the tournament will be held for two months as an online show in the spirit of “House-2”: ten men and ten women will live together and will be constantly filmed. Every day, participants will be able to choose a category in which they want to show their skills and an opponent from among their neighbors. Scores for the “performances” will be given by five jury members and spectators in a vote on the official website of the competition. At the end of each week, the participant with the fewest points is eliminated from the competition. The website of the Swedish Sex Federation contains the address resource, where the “championship” will be broadcast.
Here we found the profile of Maria (by the way, she is still the leader in user voting) and other professional porn actors and porn actresses. At the time of publication of this analysis, the “qualifying round” is underway, and the participants are nine men and women competing under the flags of Croatia, Slovenia, Russia, Romania, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Greece and France.
It can be concluded that the story promoted in the media was based on a PR campaign from the Swedish king of striptease. Although the “championship” itself is likely to take place, it is by no means a sports project, and the claim that Sweden has recognized sex as a sport is false. It probably arose through a series of translations and reprints, becoming viral not only in Sweden, but also in many other countries.
Cover image: Website screenshot "Championship"
Mostly not true
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