Vegetarian Athletes
First off I must admit I’m not a sports fan and I’m not looking forward to the forthcoming Olympics – wall to wall sport is not for me. My sport of choice would be Irish Football and hurling.
That said I have tremendous admiration for top class athletes and I got to thinking recently how many Olympic athletes are vegetarian?
My sport of choice would be Irish Football and hurling. For those of you who have no idea of what hurling is Here is what WB2 News made of it!
But I digress. The thought came about when hearing the old chestnut that you can’t be a good sportsperson and be vegetarian at the same time. The two just don’t go together!
The argument seems to run that you cannot get the protein you need without meet and dairy; this of course is completely false. Most readers of this blog will know that in fact protein from vegetables is more easily absorbed by the body and that the body does not require meat to reach peak health.
I had hoped in writing this article to come up with a list of vegetarian athletes taking part in the forthcoming Olympics but to date my research has not thrown up a sufficiently researched list to post here.
However, I did come across the following list at Almost Vegetarian and I thought it would make interesting reading.
Vegetarian athletes
Ruth Heidrich, Three-Time Ironman
Debbie Lawrence, 5k Record Holder
Jim Kaat, Baseball Player
Tony Larussa, Baseball Manager
Hank Aaron, Baseball Player
Bill Pearl, Bodybuilder
Marv Levey, Buffalo Bills Coach
Robert Parnish, Center (Bulls)
Joe Namath, Football Player
Lawrence Phillips, Football Player (49ers)
Steve Bellamy, Founder of the Tennis Channel
Surya Bonaly, French Figure Skater
Brendan Brazier, Ironman Triathlete
Sally Eastall, Marathon Runner
Andreas Cahling, Mr. International Bodybuilder
Carl Lewis, Olympic Track Star
Edwin Moses, Olympic Champion
Leroy Burrell, Olympic Champion
Murray Rose, Olympic Swimmer
Pat Reeves, Power Lifter
Bill Manetti, Powerlifting Champion
Ed Templeton, Pro Skateboarder
Mike Manzoori, Pro Skateboarder
Brian Anderson, Pro Skateboarder
Jamie Thomas, Pro Skateboarder
Forest Kirby, Pro Skateboarder
Brian Sumner, Pro Skateboarder
Andrew Reynolds, Pro Skateboarder
Jen O’brien, Pro Skateboarder
Matt Field, Pro Skateboarder
Chris Lambert, Pro Skateboarder
Brad Staba, Pro Skateboarder
Geoff Rowley, Pro Skateboarder
Rick Mc Crank, Pro Skateboarder
Moses Itkonen, Pro Skateboarder
Sergei Trudnowski, Pro Skateboarder
Laban Pheidas, Proskater
Steve Berra, Proskater
Anastasia Ashley, Surfer
Martina Navratilova, Tennis Player
Bille Jean King, Tennis Champion
Peter Burwash, Tennis Champion
John Salley, Toronto Raptors
Lucy Stephens, Tri-athlete
Stan Price, World Record Bench Press
Killer Kowalski, Wrestler
Do you know of a current or past Olympian who is vegetarian then why not post?
