Paris 2024: How Olympic is Veganism?

Laura 09 Aug 2024

The Paris Olympics have wrapped up in August 2024. With Simone Biles shining, a new world's fastest man crowned, and the debut of Breaking, the stage is set for the Paralympic Games in two weeks.

Time to find out what the Shop Like You Give a Damn Team really wants to know: Are there any vegan athletes in the Olympic Village?

A quick lesson: vegan or plant-based - what is the difference?

Veganism is more than just a diet. It's a philosophy of life that aims to avoid exploiting animals in any way. This means, besides obvious products such as meat, eggs, and dairy, vegans also avoid fabrics such as leather, silk, and wool. Furthermore, vegans develop and use animal-free alternatives to support animals, workers, and the environment.¹

The focus of a plant-based diet however lies primarily on consuming plant-based foods. Everything else? Not that important.

Back to sports: are there plant-based athletes?

Yes, there are some athletes who follow a plant-based diet. These include tennis player Novak Djokovic, volleyball player Jan Zimmermann, track and field athlete Constantin Preis, sprinter Morgan Mitchell, dressage rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, climber Oceana Mackenzie, and long-distance runner Jonas Raess.²

Why do athletes choose a plant-based diet?

Health is a top priority. As the Netflix documentary "Game Changers" has shown, many athletes report improved performance from a plant-based diet.⁴And that's the main factor for many of the athletes at the Olympics. In a podcast, Jan Zimmermann talks about how he experimented with different diets and finally found that he had more strength and needed less recovery time when eating plant-based. For the track and field athlete Preis, it was his coach who encouraged him to change his diet after various injuries.⁵

The situation is different for the dressage rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who decided to eat a plant-based diet out of love for animals (And here the question arises: How can animal love be reconciled with professional equestrian sports?).⁶ The Swiss athlete Jonas Raess also had different motivations. In a YouTube video, he justifies his decision with environmental and ethical considerations.⁷

How easy is it to eat a plant-based diet at the Olympics?

The theme at the Olympics is "more plant-based, more local, more sustainable and just as delicious". The food at the Olympic Games therefore focuses on plant-based and local products. At least 50% of all meals are vegetarian and/or at least 50% of all animal proteins are replaced by plant-based proteins, and the nutritional values and environmental impact of the dishes are transparently presented.The offerings range from cauliflower and baked potatoes with turmeric to moussaka without meat.⁸Mmmhmm.

Do the athletes also live vegan?

We know that eating a plant-based diet and living a vegan and sustainable lifestyle are not the same thing. So what about the athletes? Do they also pay attention to not using animal products in their clothing?

The entire German team is sponsored by adidas and the athletes are provided with around 80 items of clothing during the tournament.⁹Selected items from the collection are also sold on the adidas website. All currently available items are vegan and made mostly from recycled materials.¹⁰ Nevertheless, the platform good on you only rates adidas as "not good enough".The biggest criticism here is that adidas is not doing enough to ensure that its workers are paid a living wage.¹¹ Incidentally, this is also the reason why we at Shop Like You Give a Damn do not offer a certain brand: we attach great importance to it being vegan, fair (!), sustainable, inclusive, and social.

Jonas Raess, the vegan Swiss athlete, is also sponsored by On Running, which exclusively offers vegan running shoes.¹²Good on you rates On Running slightly better than adidas and gives the verdict "It's a start".¹³Here too, there is a lack of transparency regarding the payment of living wages for workers.

The Shop Like You Give a Damn Olympics Conclusion:

In professional sports, the health aspect seems to be the main focus for many athletes when they decide against animal products. But our motto, according to the American author Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, is "Don't Do Nothing Because You Can't Do Everything. Do Something. Anything".¹⁴That's why we're happy that more and more athletes are choosing a plant-based diet. But we also hope that at the next Olympic Games we'll hear: "more vegan, more local, more sustainable and just as stylish".

P.s.: You don't have to wait another four years for the right vegan outfit where the workers are paid a living wage. Whether you're sporty yourself or cheering from the couch, you'll find comfortable and casual sportswear for women & men at Shop Like You Give a Damn. But remember: Buy consciously. No more than you need. And always vegan, fair and as sustainable as possible.