The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are thriving, and many athletes are receiving well-deserved attention. However, it’s not just their remarkable skills that are being highlighted, but also their commitment to a healthier lifestyle. Looking for veganism at the Olympics, we will introduce you to 10 vegan athletes competing for the gold. They are proving that a plant-based diet can fuel top-level performance.
1. Ana Carolina Silva (Carol) – Brazilian volleyball player
“If I had known earlier about the benefits for my body and the positive environmental impact it would bring, I would have started much sooner.“
Ana Carolina, Carol for the Brazilian fans, is a world-class middle-blocker. She won the silver medal with the Brazilian women’s volleyball team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Also, the athlete from Minas Gerais is a four-time Superliga champion, a three-time South American champion, and won bronze at the 2014 World Championship.
Her journey with veganism started with Macris, her teammate. As high-level athletes, Carol thought she could only be vegan after retirement, but soon changed her mind after following Macris’ footsteps, her vegan collegue. Also, she felt the need to restrict her diet to avoid gaining weight. After going vegan, she learned she could eat well and developed a much healthier, loving, and respectful relationship with her body. Additionally, she also noticed improvements in her performance during training and games.
2. Novak Djokovic – Serbian tennis player
“It was a change in my diet that allowed my body to function the way it should.”
The male record-holder for The Grand Slam, with 24 titles, credits much of his professional success to a vegan diet. In 2022, he knelt on the grass of Centre Court, where he had just won Wimbledon, picked up a blade of grass, and chewed it. Furthermore, he has followed this ritual for all the seven times he has won the iconic tournament.
Sensitive to gluten and dairy, the athlete had a hard relationship with food. After adopting veganism, the results were immediate: increased vitality, lighter feet, more energy—and no more bloating. The days of feeling heavy and tired were over for the tennis player, and he never looked back. In fact, in the year he adopted the diet, he won three of the four Grand Slams, with only Roland Garros slipping through his fingers.
3. Vivian Kong – Hong Kong left-handed épée fencer.
“After the injury, I wanted to change and be a new person. I wanted to recover faster. I kept Googling what foods to eat to recover quickly and have become so much stronger after turning vegan.”
The left-hander was the 2018 Asian individual champion and represented Hong Kong in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. She won the FIE Women’s Épée World Cup in 2019, marking Hong Kong’s first world fencing title. Vivian repeated this achievement at the next World Cup and was the first from Hong Kong to win an Olympic bout. Also, she finished the 2018-19 season ranked #1 in the world.
She entered the vegan world after a severe knee injury, in 2017. As a medicine for her pain, veganism helped her to recover faster, as well as gain muscle and strength. Her newest achievement? A brand new gold medal at the women’s épée final at the Paris Olympic Games, just a couple of days ago.
4. Morgan Mitchell – Australian track and field athlete
“I just have to reiterate the fact that the life of an animal and the well-being of the environment means more to me than any amount of money or the career path I wish to take because without them we wouldn’t have life”
Morgan Mitchell is an Olympic runner who competed in the Rio 2016 Olympics. She holds the fastest 400m time by an Australian woman in 13 years and is a key runner in the 4 x 400m relay team. Moreover, in 2014 she played a pivotal role in Australia’s victory in the B final at the IAAF World Relays and has been crowned the National 400-meter Champion twice.
She became interested in veganism for ethical and moral reasons. Driven by the cause against animal cruelty, Morgan sought to learn more about veganism, watched documentaries, and completely changed her worldview.
5. Kaylin Whitney – USA sprinter
“It’s helped me feel more stable, more in tune with myself. I never feel like I am lacking anything. I don’t crave the things that I used to crave before. For me, it’s a nice way to live my life.”
In 2014, Kaylin set world under-18 records in the 100m and 200m at the US Junior Championships in Eugene. At the Tokyo Olympics, she earned gold in the women’s 4x400m relay and bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay. Not to mention, she added another gold in the women’s 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene, where she started, in 2022.
In brief, Kaylin embraced veganism during the pandemic. She saw the shift as a chance to try something new and experienced significant benefits, feeling healthier and lighter. This change positively impacted her performance on the track, leading to notable improvements in her training. She also claims it did wonders for her mental health
6. Constantin Preis – German 400mh pro athlete
“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.”
Constantin Preis is a German athlete who specializes in the 400-meter hurdles. Besides representing Germany at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, he is a three-time German champion, a Diamond League competitor, and a semi-finalist at Tokyo 2020.
Used to eat meat every day, Constantin discovered veganism through Sebastian Macard, his coach. The vegan diet was presented as an option to reduce his constant muscle tears, strains, and back issues. As a man of science, Constantin saw the benefits of being a vegan. He began studying nutritional science and using what he learned in his development as an athlete.
7. Diana Taurasi – USA basketball player
“You take for granted what you put in your body when you’re young….as you get older, you get conscious of what you’re eating and how that affects your body.”
Diana Taurasi is a legendary basketball player. With five Olympic gold medals and the third-highest all-time points scorer for the USA World Cup team, she has also claimed five WNBL scoring titles. The winner of one WNBA Most Valuable Player Award along with two WNBA Finals MVP Awards is known as the ‘White Mamba’, for her clutch scoring ability, as well as ‘the Michael Jordan of the WNBA. She shares the record for most games played (32) in U.S. Olympic history and ranks second for career points (379).
She turned vegan in 2015 for health reasons. Driven by a growing awareness of how diet impacts her body as she ages. she and her partner adopted a fully plant-based diet. Taurasi noted that avoiding inflammatory foods, fats, and sugars improved her performance and overall well-being.
8. Anna Henderson – British racing cyclist
“I used to be like, ‘I’ll never be vegan, I love meat. But I think what happens is that we all dissociate from what meat is and what animals are.”
Anna Henderson has an impressive career so far. She won the Under-23 National Championship, the time-trial at the National Road Championships, and the Derny at the National Track Championships. She also exceeded at the Prologue at the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs and led the Mountains and British Rider classifications at the RideLondon Classique.
As a former meat lover through and through, her decision about veganism was a result of her compassion for the animal cause. Firstly, she decided to connect her diet with her ideals and completely abandoned any kind of animal products. As a result, the Olympian Athlete just won a silver medal in the women’s individual time trial at the Paris 2024 Olympics, after overcoming two collarbone fractures this year.
9. Hector Bellerín – Spanish soccer player
“At first, it was all about trying it. How it tastes, how it feels, and how it helps, but I think it does way more than that, and now I see myself totally dependent on this particular diet. There is no denying that I love it more than anything else on my table”
Bellerín started his career at Barcelona and moved to Arsenal in 2011. He played 239 games across all competitions, winning three FA Cups and two FA Community Shields, as well as a Copa del Rey while on loan at Real Betis.
His journey with veganism began with a “let’s try it and see how it goes”. It started as an experiment in order to see how it impacted his performance on the pitch. However, soon Bellerín found himself sticking with it after noticing his recovery time improving. In 2020, he even bought a stake in Forest Green Rovers, a third-division English club known as “the world’s first vegan club.”
10. Tia Blanco – Puerto Rican surfer
“The vegan lifestyle aligns with all of my core values, and I truly feel better physically and mentally as a vegan.”
Tia Blanco is a 22-year-old professional surfer who excels in competitions and is an International Surfing Association gold medalist. In addition to her surfing achievements, she is a champion of veganism, sharing vegan recipes with her thousands of followers on Instagram through her account @tiasvegankitchen.
Born vegetarian, she and her family decided to go vegan when she was 15. They switched to veganism for ethical reasons, health benefits, and environmental impact. Blanco also feels that veganism aligns with her values and improves her physical and mental well-being.
This group of elite athletes not only represents their respective countries but also demonstrates how veganism has the power to transform lives. By all means,beyond being better for the environment and animals, veganism is also the best choice for our body.
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