Paris has once again surrendered to foreign occupiers. Except this time, the occupiers are not an armed encampment; they’re hungry athletes fed up with the vegan diet Olympic organizers tried to make them eat.
Olympic organizers were forced to order 4,000 pounds of meat and eggs quickly after athletes decried the fake meat and non-dairy options.
From the beginning, officials sought to make this year’s Games the most eco-friendly and green in Olympic history. However, lost somewhere in the social designers’ “grand design” was the fact that, while fake meat is fine in the faculty cafeterias of Harvard and Oxford, elite human machines do not run on fake meat.
While organizers initially sought to downplay the woke meal plans’ impact and assured that all would be well, eventually, they had to concede defeat.
“As far as food is concerned, we had to make a few changes, and we had to adapt, which is quite normal,” Paris 2024 chief executive Etienne Thobois told reporters.
“We have 700kg of eggs and a tonne of meat have been the increases we have provided to meet the needs of athletes.”
Is having to rush order over 4,000 pounds of a totally different menu item “quite normal?”
Participants of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Games walk in front of the cafeteria of the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, on July 22, 2024, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. (MICHEL EULER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Thobois continued, “We have got a full vision in terms of nutrition which is designed to provide the products necessary, including organic food. We have adapted everything, and it is to the satisfaction of all concerned.
‘We have had discussions with the heads of delegation and we have put the athletes at the forefront of our concerns and adapted our services to meet the needs of the athletes.”
The menu is not the only area where major concessions from the Games’ eco-friendly planners are seen. Teams are also now being allowed to bring their own air conditioning. This is in contrast to the previous arrangement, where only teams from highly-funded, wealthy countries had their own AC, and others were forced to rent it.
The problems with nutrition and cooling off have followed the athletes onto the field of play.
Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus says the conditions contributed significantly to her inability to set a new world record in the 800m freestyle.
“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of, but living in the Olympic Village makes it hard to perform,” she said on Sunday.
“It’s definitely not made for high performance, so it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”
