A former Olympian says he’s received backlash after making controversial comments about athletes’ diets, amid outrage over Olympic village conditions this year.
Many of this year’s competitors have been documenting what life is like in the village, where many have been stationed over the past several weeks.
While many people have been enjoying the tiki bars, chocolate muffins and free Costa coffees, others have been a little less complimentary.
Olympic village controversy
Organisers for Paris 2024 had a pledge to make 60% of all meals meatless, which is great news for the environment, but perhaps less so for some of the athletes.
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Team GB swimmer Adam Peaty is among many stars hitting out at the food on offer in the village, claiming worms have been discovered in meals.
The 29-year-old swimmer told the i: "The narrative of sustainability has just been punished on the athletes. I want to [eat] meat, I need meat to perform and that’s what I eat at home, so why should I change?"
He added: "I like my fish and people are finding worms in the fish. It’s just not good enough.”
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Claiming the team had been 'blindsided', the three-time gold-medallist continued: "The catering isn’t good enough for the level the athletes are expected to perform.
"We need to give the best we possibly can.
"Tokyo, the food was incredible, Rio was incredible. But this time around […] there wasn’t enough protein options, long queues, waiting 30 minutes for food because there’s no queuing system."
What James Magnussen’s had to say
Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen recently claimed that 'world class athletes' do not eat a vegan diet, saying he’s since received a barrage of hate from those following such plant-based lifestyles.
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Magnussen, who has previously won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, suggested that it could actually be having a detrimental effect on the athletes competing, writing in his News Corp: "They had a charter that said 60% of food in the village had to be vegan friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn't anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan friendly ones.
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"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."
And he's arguably not exactly wrong, as organisers have since ordered more than 700kg of eggs, a tonne of extra meat to replace fake meat meals.
Backlash from vegans
However, it seems as though the swimming great is trying to smooth things over with the haters, having spoken out on the Matty and the Missile in Paris podcast.
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He said: "To all the vegans out there, peace to you my brethren.
"I'm going to sleep easy tonight.
"You know why? I've left no carbon footprint today.
"I sweated my arse on (a) bus that had no air conditioning.
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"There’s multiple factors that make village life far from ideal.
"It’s the cardboard beds, which can’t give you optimal sleep.
"It’s the no air conditioning, which is going to play a bigger factor as the week goes.
"It was 20 degrees and raining yesterday.
"It’s going to be mid 30s in the coming days.
"That’s going to play a factor and the Australian team having their own portable air conditioners will be a welcome relief."
Topics: Olympics, Food and Drink, Sport
Jess Hardiman