British swimmer Adam Peaty criticized the catering at the Paris Games in an interview with i news
Published August 6, 2024 4:30PM (EDT)
Participants of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics game walk in front of the cafeteria of the Olympic Village, in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, on July 22, 2024. (MICHEL EULER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Athletes are continuing to bash the food being served at the Paris Olympics, with one swimmer claiming that diners have found worms in their meals. British swimmer Adam Peaty recently told i news that the catering at this year’s Games “isn’t good enough for the level the athletes are expected to perform.”
“We need to give the best we possibly can. [In] Tokyo the food was incredible. Rio was incredible. But this time around? There wasn’t enough protein options, long queues, waiting 30 minutes for food because there’s no queueing system,” he told the outlet.
Several Olympic organizers claimed the lack of food — and poor quality of food — is due to supply problems with Sodexo Live!, the company in charge of catering. Additionally, as part of the Games’ pledge to reduce the carbon footprint of meals produced by half, a strict quality charter was developed in anticipation of the Paris Olympics. A quarter of all ingredients are sourced in a 155-mile (250 km) radius of Paris and 20% are certified organic, BBC reported. Meat, milk and eggs are all from France and a third of the food is plant-based.
“The narrative of sustainability has just been pushed on the athletes,” Peaty said. “I want meat, I need meat to perform and that’s what I eat at home, so why should I change?”
He continued, “I like my fish and people are finding worms in the fish. It’s just not good enough. The standard, we’re looking at the best of the best in the world, and we’re not feeding them the best.”
A Paris 2024 spokesperson told i news: “We are listening to the athletes and take their feedback very seriously. Since the opening of the village, our partner Sodexo Live! has been working proactively to adapt supplies to the growing use of the Olympic Village restaurants, as well as to the actual consumption by athletes observed over the first few days. As a result, the quantities of certain products has been significantly increased and additional staff have been deployed to ensure the service runs smoothly.”
