2024 Olympic Athletes Find Worms in Food

British swimmer Adam Peaty criticizes food at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Instagram/@adam_peaty).

JAKARTA – British swimmer Adam Peaty claims that several athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics found worms in fish dishes in the Athletes' Village.

The food intake provided by the organizing committee for athletes in Paris has indeed been in the spotlight. However, this latest claim is not supported by valid evidence.

"That's not good enough. The standard is we look for the best of the best in the world and we are not given the best food from them," said the owner of three Olympic gold medals as quoted by The Guardian.

The 29-year-old athlete considered the standard of quality and quantity of food provided in Paris to be far below compared to the previous two Olympics.

He said that the quality of food must be a concern because it has a direct impact on the performance of athletes in the competition arena.

"At (the) Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the food was amazing. In Rio de Janeiro (2016) it was amazing, but this time there was not enough protein options, long queues, waiting 30 minutes to get food because there was no queue system," he said.

Another thing that Peaty criticized was the lack of meat as part of the organizers' sustainability campaign.

The policy means that 60 percent of athletes' meals in Paris will be meat-free and 30 percent plant-based.

"The sustainability narrative has just been forced on the athletes. I want meat, I need meat to perform and that's what I eat at home. So why should I adjust?" Peaty said.

The criticism has been responded to by a spokesperson for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The spokesperson said that they were taking input from athletes seriously so that they could improve services.

"As a result, the number of certain products has been significantly increased. Extra staff have been deployed to ensure that services run smoothly," the spokesperson said.