Athlete sparks debate after complaining about vegan food at Olympic village

A former Olympian has sparked a debate online after questioning the fact that "60 percent of the food" offered to athletes at the Olympic village is meat or dairy-free.

Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen said 'world class athletes' don't eat a vegan diet – but his comments didn't go down well with everyone.

Speaking in his News Corp column, the former gold medal winner said: “The lack of world records boils down to this whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than high performance.

"They had a charter that said 60 percent of food in the village had to be vegan friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn't anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan friendly ones.

The olympic athlete had some choice words (Credit: Getty)

"The caterer had to rejig their numbers and bring in more of those products because surprise, surprise - world class athletes don't have vegan diets."

After pressure from athletes, the Paris Olympic village is said to have provided more than 700kg of eggs and loads more meat to replace some of the 'vegan-friendly' option they'd prioritised.

So, technically, Magnussen's point was partially true, even if not a popular one.

Speaking on the Matty and the Missile in Paris podcast, he said of the hate he had been receiving: "To all the vegans out there, peace to you my brethren.

"I'm going to sleep easy tonight. You know why? I've left no carbon footprint today. 

"I sweated my arse on [a] bus that had no air conditioning!"

The swimmer said he got hate over the comments (Credit: Getty)

He did say it wasn't just about the food, though.

"There’s multiple factors that make village life far from ideal," he added. "It’s the cardboard beds, which can’t give you optimal sleep.

"It’s the no air conditioning, which is going to play a bigger factor as the week goes.

"It was 20 degrees and raining yesterday. It’s going to be mid 30s in the coming days.

"That’s going to play a factor and the Australian team having their own portable air conditioners will be a welcome relief."

Featured image: Getty