The Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony was just held recently. The Para Olympics games are about to start. Besides the interesting fact that this is the 3rd time the Summer Olympics were held in Paris, did you know these games were also touted as the greenest ever!
At this year’s Olympic Games, 60% of the 13 million meals served were meatless, and a third were vegan.
As athletes and spectators arrived in Paris from across the world, the theme of the Olympics menu was global too. Dishes like a veggie bourguignon, cauliflower & baked potato with turmeric; a bell pepper shakshouka, a meatless moussaka, crispy quinoa muesli, and zaatar sweet potato with hummus and chimichurri fueled Olympians, support staff, employees and onlookers alike.
Many champion athletes have long followed a plant-forward diet, with the sporting benefits of veganism blown into mainstream consciousness with the 2020 documentary The Game Changers. Lewis Hamilton, the Williams sisters, Dotsie Bausch, Mike Tyson, Carl Lewis, and so many more have propagated the athletics gains by switching to plant-based diets.
But it wasn’t just about the food. The organizers also sourced 80% of the products from within France and 25% from within 250km of the venues. Talk about keeping it local! They had halved the amount of protein from animal products in all the food provided. Now that’s what I call a commitment to sustainability!
And let’s remember the athletes themselves. With multiple vegan athletes medaling in the 2024 Olympics, the plant-based lifestyle is gaining popularity among the world’s top athletes.
Many vegan athletes listed below competed at this year’s games, hoping to encourage viewers across the world to cut down meat consumption and embrace more plant-based foods for the sake of their health, as well as the planet.
Diana Taurasi
Country: US
Sport: Basketball
Widely regarded as the greatest WNBA player of all time, Diana Taurasi went vegan in 2016 and has credited her vegan diet for her success. The five-time Olympic gold medallist (a US basketball record) has spoken of the faster recovery times that are helping her do things now, at 42, that she couldn’t at 28.
Constantin Preis
Country: Germany
Sport: Hurdling
Courtesy: Constantin Preis/Facebook
A specialist in 400m hurdles, German athlete Constantin Preis went vegan in 2018, a year after cutting out meat from his diet. He made the change specifically for fitness reasons, following muscle tears, strains, and back issues. Preis has spoken about the importance of whole foods like beans, which have similar iron, protein, and micronutrient levels to chicken.
“There are so many benefits, but the bottom line is that it all starts with better blood circulation. By giving up dairy products, the plaque and everything that had built up has disappeared. Now that my blood circulation is better, the muscles can be optimally supplied and the muscular problems have been minimized,” Preis told SportSirene in 2022.
Marina Fioravanti
Country: Brazil
Sport: Rugby
Courtesy: Martín Seras Lima/World Rugby
Marina Fioravanti competed in her first Games at Tokyo 2020 (well, 2021) as part of Brazil’s rugby sevens team. This year, the 30-year-old will be fuelled by a plant-based diet.
During training-packed days, she spoke to Bon Appétit about relying on “nutritive and tasty” staples like protein smoothies, rice and beans, lentil Bolognese, and oatmeal with chia seeds.
Morgan Mitchell
Country: Australia
Sport: Track and field
You might know her from The Game Changers, but Morgan Mitchell has been vegan for a decade now. A former 400m runner, she now specializes in the 800m sprint and is heading to her third game as a plant-based Olympian. She has cited faster recovery, easier weight management, and better overall health as the key outcomes of her dietary shift.
“A clear example of why I knew it would work for me was back in 2012. I made the state team for netball, but I also had glandular fever,” Mitchell told News.com.au in April. “I could probably survive about three hours a day, outside and then I’d be sleeping for the rest. I’d get tonsillitis twice a year and turning to a vegan diet really helped with my overall health. I haven’t had tonsillitis since.”
Kaylin Whitney
Country: US
Sport: Track and field
Courtesy: Getty Images/Olympics.com
Kaylin Whitney became a gold medallist in the 4x400m relay at the Tokyo Games in 2021, a year after she turned to a plant-based diet. She missed out on qualification as a 100m and 200m sprinter for the 2016 Olympics in Rio but has said that going vegan during the pandemic reinvented her. She felt a lot healthier, a lot lighter, and a lot less sore.
“It was the best thing I ever did,” she told Olympics.com, stating that she was inspired by Mitchell. “I can’t even begin to explain all the benefits I saw… It felt like my body was working how it needed to.”
Vivian Kong Man Wai
Country: Hong Kong SAR
Sport: Épée fencer
Courtesy: International Fencing Federation
Following a career-threatening injury in 2017, champion épée fencer Vivian Kong Man Wai turned to a vegan diet. After initial struggles with prejudice from home, the results speak for themselves: she has since competed in two Olympic Games, won the Asian Championships thrice, and climbed to the top of the world rankings.
She won gold in the Paris 2024 Olympics in her fencing event!
“I can be an example to show it’s possible, and it’s more motivation for me to work harder, have better results, and tell my story about how eating plant-based foods made me better and made me feel better too,” she told the South China Morning Post in 2018.
Alex Morgan
Country: US
Sport: Football
Courtesy: Alex Morgan/X
A veteran of the USWNT, Alex Morgan has been following a plant-based diet since 2017. A two-time Olympic medallist (including Gold at London 2012) and FIFA World Cup Winner, she went vegan for ethical reasons but noticed a huge drop in her cholesterol and fatigue levels, as well as an accelerated recovery time.
“It benefited me all around,” she told The Beet in 2021. “I was fearful it would affect soccer in a detrimental way but it was the opposite. It made me feel better.”
This story was published before the official announcement of the USWNT squad for the 2024 Olympics. Alex Morgan wasn’t included in the squad.
Novak Djokovic
Country: Serbia
Sport: Tennis
Courtesy: Maja Hitij/Getty Images
One of the greatest tennis players of all time – and another star of The Game Changers – Novak Djokovic is included as a bonus because he has distanced himself from the ‘vegan’ label, citing his dislike of people’s misinterpretation of the word. “I do eat plant-based, and it’s been for many years,” he told American journalist Graham Bensinger in 2020.
Nevertheless, with more Grand Slams in the bag than any of his peers, the 37-year-old won a gold medal in his fifth Olympics!
“My diet hasn’t just changed my game, it’s changed my life – my wellbeing,” he told Forbes in an interview about his Monte Carlo vegan restaurant Eqvita in 2016. “And if I feel better, that obviously transfers to my professional life. Eating vegan makes me more aware of my body on the court… more alert. I removed toxins from my body, and with them went all the inflammation and other things that were messing with my energy levels.”
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