It is a myth that muscle, strength, and stamina require the consumption of large amounts of animal foods. This myth started before anyone talked about protein. During the Olympics, it’s a great time to take a look at some amazing athletes who are champions and vegetarians:
- Charlene Wong is a champion figure skater who represented Canada at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. She began competing at the age of 6 and in 1980 was named to the Canadian team and represented Canada at the World Junior Championships. She excelled in The vegetarian guide to sports nutrition by Lisa Dorfmann.
- paavo nurmi, a Finnish runner, had been a vegetarian since he was 12 years old. He is often considered the greatest track and field athlete of all time. A long-distance runner, he competed in the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Olympic Games, winning 12 Olympic medals.
- chris campbell, wrestler, trained for the 1980 Olympics but did not compete because the US team boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. At age 37, he began training again and secured a spot on the US team, winning a bronze medalist at the 1992 Olympics, becoming the oldest American to medal in Olympic wrestling. He says: “I take care of my body. I don’t eat meat and I do yoga every day. It makes a difference.”
- carl lewisa vegan athlete, won 10 Olympic medals, including 9 golds, in a career spanning from 1979 to 1996, competing for the US. She said, “Most athletes have the worst diet in the world and they compete despite it”.
- surya bonaly, professional figure skater, represented France at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympic Games. She is also now a US citizen. A vegetarian, she has appeared in PETA ads protesting seal pup hunting in Canada and the fur trade in England and France.
- Debbie Lawrence, a vegetarian walker, is a three-time Olympian (1992, 1996 and 2000) and holds the world record in the women’s 5K walk event. She attributes her success to hard work and a vegetarian diet.
- rose murrayA vegetarian by birth, he has six Olympic medals. He was born in 1939 in Nairn, Scotland, but moved to Australia with his family at a young age. He was an Olympic champion at seventeen. He was known for his vegetarianism during his career, which earned him the nickname “The Seaweed Streak”. He competed in the Olympic Games from 1956 to 1960, winning six medals.
- Al OerterDiscus thrower, he won four Olympic gold medals for the US, in 1956, 1960 and 1964. He was also an abstract painter.
- Edwin Moses, hurdler from the USA, is a gold medalist who went eight years without losing the 400m hurdles. Throughout his career, he won two Olympic gold medals. After retiring from the track, he completed a 1990 World Cup luge race in Germany and won the two-man bronze medal with US Olympian Brian Shimer. Edwin Moses is a vegetarian.
- leroy burrell, sprinter, twice set the world record for the 100-meter dash. He won a gold medal for the United States in 1992 in Barcelona. He is vegetarian.
As stated in “Vegetarian Diets” from the International Center for Sports Nutrition, Olympic Coach Magazine, Winter 1997:
“If care is taken to include a wide variety of foods, vegetarian diets may be nutritionally adequate to support athletic performance.”
“Whether an individual is a recreational or world-class athlete, being a vegetarian does not diminish one’s natural talent or athletic performance. As early as the Ancient Games, Greek athletes trained on vegetarian diets and displayed amazing skill in competitive athletics.” .
Looking at these 10 vegetarian Olympians, it’s clear that the need to eat meat to be strong and a champion is a myth. A whole-food, plant-based diet will give an athlete all the great nutrition he needs to be a winner.
