Website design By BotEap.comIt is a myth that muscle, strength and endurance 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:

1. charlene wong is a figure skating champion who represented Canada at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. She began competing at the age of 6 and in 1980 she was named to the Canadian team and represented Canada at the World Junior Championships. She stood out in The Vegetarian Guide to Sports Nutrition by Lisa Dorfmann.
2. turkey nurmi, a Finnish runner, was a vegetarian from the age of 12. 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 Olympics, winning 12 Olympic medals.
3. 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.”
4. carl lewisvegan athlete, won 10 Olympic medals, including 9 gold, in a career spanning 1979 to 1996, competing for the US He said “most athletes have the worst diet in the world and compete despite it”.
5. Surya Bonali, a professional figure skater, represented France at the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Olympics. She is now a US citizen as well. A vegetarian, she has appeared in PETA ads protesting the poaching of baby seals in Canada and the fur trade in England and France.
6. Debbie Lawrence, a vegetarian walker, is a three-time Olympian (1992, 1996 and 2000) and holds the world record in the women’s 5km walk event. She attributes her success to hard work and a vegetarian diet.
7. rose murray, a vegetarian by birth, 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 Olympic champion at seventeen. He was known for his vegetarianism during his career, earning him the nickname “The Seaweed Streak”. He competed in the Olympic Games from 1956 to 1960, winning six medals.
8. Al OerterA discus thrower, he won four Olympic gold medals for the US, in 1956, 1960 and 1964. He was also an abstract painter.
9. Edwin Moses, a 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 men’s two bronze medal with American Olympian Brian Shimer. Edwin Moses is a vegetarian.
10. leroy burrell, sprinter, twice set the world record for the 100 meter race. He won a gold medal for the United States in 1992 in Barcelona. He is vegetarian.

Website design By BotEap.comAs stated in “Vegetarian Diets” by the International Center for Sports Nutrition, Olympic Coach magazine, Winter 1997:

Website design By BotEap.com“If care is taken to include a wide variety of foods, vegetarian diets may be nutritionally adequate to support athletic performance.”

Website design By BotEap.com“Whether an individual is a recreational or world-class athlete, being a vegetarian does not diminish natural talent or athletic performance. As far back as the Ancient Games, Greek athletes trained on vegetarian diets and displayed amazing skill in competitive athletics” .

Website design By BotEap.comLooking 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 the athlete all the excellent nutrition he needs to be a winner.