As the Paris Olympics unfolds, vegan athletes are among the world’s elite – aiming to prove their abilities on the most prestigious stages.
In the first few days of the Olympic Games, Vivian Kong took Gold. The fencer is representing Hong Kong, and has won countless medals at the Asia Championships, World Championships and World Cup. She’s been world #1 at least twice, although an Olympic medal eluded her in Rio and Tokyo. This time, she won a tightly contested final to take Gold in Épée.
She’s been vegan since 2017 when a knee injury led her to delve into researching nutrition and recovery. Since then, she’s won the World Cup twice. “I have all the protein I need. I am recovering a lot faster, I get muscle pain but it goes away really quickly,” she says. “I have become so much stronger after turning vegan.”
Britain’s Anna Henderson followed with a Silver medal in cycling. She found the transition to veganism was a great success and has reflected on her decision to change. “I think what happens is that we all dissociate from what meat is and what animals are. All ‘round for me, it’s been such a huge positive change in my life. And I hope that riders will make the change soon.”
Eleanor Harvey wasn’t far behind. Vegan since 12, the Canadian fencer won Canada’s first-ever fencing Olympic medal.
We’ve seen an Olympic veteran return this year in Diana Taurasi. She has returned for an incredible sixth Olympics and has won a medal at each of the previous five. At 42 years old, Diana is still full of energy and skill. Fully vegan since 2015, she appreciates the health benefits. In 2015 she said: “As you get older, you get conscious of what you’re eating and how that affects your body. The way you look and feel that’s really helped me”.
On the track, Germany’s Constantin Preis will be competing in the 400-metre hurdles. Constantin recently won the German Championships to add to two previous titles. The Moldovan-born runner has been vegan for four years, having been vegetarian for a year prior. “There are so many benefits, but the bottom line is that it all starts with better blood circulation,” he said in an interview with SportSirene web magazine. “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 minimised”.
Team USA’s Kaylin Whitney became a gold medallist in the 4x400m relay at the Tokyo Games in 2021, a year after she transitioned to a plant-based diet, and is competing in the same event at this year’s Paris Olympics. “I actually entertained it [a vegan diet] during lockdown during Covid,” she says. “We were still training but at that point, the Olympics had been called off and everyone was trying to figure it out day-by-day.”
“I can’t even begin to explain all the benefits I saw…it felt like my body was working how it needed to. Once I came into that 2021 season, feeling a lot healthier and a lot lighter, my performance in training was going amazing”.
Switzerland’s Jonas Raess is also returning to the track. Jonas has eight national titles, and both the 3000 and 5000 metre records in Switzerland. He’s competed internationally for several years, including in the Tokyo Olympics. He’s been vegan for close to three years now. On this, he said: “I myself could not kill an animal. So I asked myself the basic question: ‘Why eat animals if I am unable to kill them?’”
Nadia Erostarbe is representing Spain after a fantastic progression in world rankings in recent years. The surfer is vying for medals in a tightly contested competition.
Turning to team sports, Marina Fioravanti has represented Brazil in rugby sevens at the Tokyo Olympics and will be back again. She describes herself as “a vegan and nature lover” and enjoys sea swimming and hiking as well as training with her national team.
The Brazilian women’s volleyball has two vegans who have each collected both an Olympic and World Cup Silver. Macris Carneiro was the first to go vegan, and Ana Carolina followed in 2018 when she saw how well Macris had done as a vegan.
Another Brazilian competitor is Amanda Schott. The weightlifter has already taken medals at the Pan American Championships, South American Games, and Snatch World Championships. She has also taken four national titles.
Climbing is a new sport, with only its second Olympics. Alexander Megos has ten medals from the World Championships and recently went vegan out of concern for the environment. On this, Alexander said: “Actually, I think the biggest thing an individual can do is adopt a plant based diet. Flying less only works for people who fly a lot. The majority of people though don’t fly as much as we climbers do. So in general the best and easiest thing to do for individuals to minimize their CO2 footprint is to go vegan.”
Another vegan climber is Oceana MacKenzie from Australia. At twenty-one, Oceana has already broken multiple Australian climbing records, including the best Australian female results at the World Championships, the best overall Australian result in bouldering for 2023 and holds the continental record in speed climbing. Oceana says “I don’t think a lot about it as it is just what I do. I really enjoy vegan foods and I found that there are actually a lot more options when eating vegan.”
Is that all of them? Probably not! But it’s fantastic to see some amazing vegans competing at a prestigious event like the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Original source: https://veganfta.com
https://www.animalagricultureclimatechange.org/menu-paris-olympics/
