Australian Olympic star says Paris Games are so woke they are ruining athletes’ chances of setting world records

Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has criticised the Paris Olympics, saying they are so environmentally friendly that they are ruining athletes’ chances of setting world records.

Magnussen won gold, silver and bronze at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He also won the title of world champion in the 100-meter freestyle in 2011 and 2013. Magnussen retired from competitive swimming in 2019.

He believes the world’s biggest sporting event has an environmentally-friendly, vegan mentality that is hurting performance.

“There are several factors that make life in the countryside far from ideal,” the two-time Olympian wrote in his Column by News Corp.

‘It’s the cardboard beds that don’t provide an optimal night’s sleep.

“It’s the lack of air conditioning, which is going to be a bigger factor as the week goes on. Yesterday it was 20 degrees and raining. It’s going to be mid 30s in the next few days.

‘That will play a part and it will be a welcome change that the Australian team have their own mobile air conditioners.

“It’s the overcrowded buses with no airflow. It’s all that walking everywhere. The only thing we noticed in London was that I was doing 6,000-7,000 steps a day, from my room to the food hall, to the bus stop, to the swimming pool.”

James Magnussen (pictured) says eco-friendly, vegan mentality in Paris is ruining athletes’ chances of breaking records

Many athletes have complained about the cardboard beds (pictured)

The organizers of the Paris Olympics are aggressive in their green approach, labeling the event as the most sustainable ever.

However, Magnussen believes they have gone too far and that the environment created for the athletes could be the most difficult ever to swim world records.

“The lack of world records comes from the whole eco-friendly, carbon footprint, vegan-first mentality rather than peak performance,” he said.

“They had a charter that said 60 percent of the food in the village had to be vegan. The day before the opening ceremony, the meat and dairy options in the village were sold out because they didn’t expect so many athletes to choose the meat and dairy options over the vegan options.

‘The caterer had to adjust the numbers and use more of those products because surprise, surprise: world-class athletes do not have a vegan diet.

Vegan substitutes such as a ‘not dog’ (pictured) made from plant-based materials are offered to athletes

Magnussen believes the Paris Games should prioritise performance

“They must have watched the Netflix documentary Game Changers and assumed everyone was the same. But let me tell you, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer — none of those guys are on a vegan diet.”

Conditions in the athletes’ village have already raised eyebrows among Australian participants.

The ‘anti-sex’ cardboard beds went down well with water polo player Tilly Kearns and her teammate Gabi Palm, who said after their first night: ‘My back is nearly going to come off’.

Tennis player Daria Saville said in a social media post on Tuesday that the village is not at all comparable to staying in a hotel.

“Here in the Olympic Village we don’t really have hotel-like cleaning, so you have to provide your own toilet paper,” she wrote in the caption of a video showing her grabbing multiple rolls.