The competition from Paris’ Olympic Games continues to be the side dish to the entree of larger wellness issues.
Following reports that this summer’s Olympic Village has had insufficient amounts of grilled meat and eggs, competitors themselves have doubled down on qualms with catering — specifically the emphasis on vegan-conscious choices.
Ariarne Titmus, who won gold in the women’s 400-meter freestyle on Saturday, seemingly attributed posting a slower time than she anticipated in part due to the less authentic cuisine.
“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,” the 23-year-old said, according to the Daily Mail. “It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”
Another former Australian swimming standout also took exception to Sodexo Live, the Village’s designated food provider, for opting for a menu devoid of more traditional meats and proteins.
“The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance,” said James Magnussen, who last won a swimming bronze medal for Australia in 2016.
The Aussie also quipped that caterer Sodexo Live may have erred in its estimation about the proportion of athletes who prefer vegan diets.
‘The caterer had to rejig their numbers and bring in more of those products because surprise, surprise — world class athletes don’t have vegan diets,” Magnussen said. “They must have watched the Netflix doc ‘Game Changers’ and assumed everyone was the same. But let me tell you, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer — none of those guys are on a vegan diet.”
Although athletes like Brady have popularized a predominantly vegan diet — eating 80 percent plant-based foods, according to his website — the bulk of competitors may not ascribe to a mostly vegan lifestyle.
In work done by the Nutrition and Running High Mileage Study, 44.4 percent of endurance runners reported having omnivorous diets compared to 34.7 percent vegans and 20.9 percent vegetarians.
Additionally, both male and female omnivorous runners were reported as having better average times compared to their vegan and vegetarian counterparts.
Magnussen’s point about world records still standing is exemplified by Team USA swimmer Gretchen Walsh, who reset the Olympic 100-meter butterfly mark with a 55.38-second run — but missed her world record time of 55.18 seconds.
Even though Olympic competition has only been underway for six days, other controversies — from Team Canada soccer’s ongoing drone scandal to the cancellation of early events in the Seine River — have continued to cloud action from Paris, and food seems no exception.