Team GB have resorted to hiring their own chefs for Paris 2024 amid issues over the catering in the Olympic Village, including being served raw meat.
This summer’s Olympics officially get underway on Friday night with the opening ceremony but the build-up to the games has been marred in various controversies.
The latest has occurred in the heart of the athletes’ accommodation, with competitors complaining about food shortages and the lack of quality of the meals.
‘At the beginning of every Games there’s usually two or three issues – the big one this time is the food in the village, which is not adequate,’ Team GB’s chief executive Andy Anson said.
‘There are not enough of certain foods: eggs, chicken, certain carbohydrates, and then there is the quality of the food, with raw meat being served to athletes.
‘They have got to improve it over the next couple of days dramatically.’
While the Games’ caterer Sodexo Live has promised to address the issues raised, the British Olympic Association have taken matters into their own hands to ensure their athletes stay in top condition.
They had already hired an entire catering college in the Paris suburb Clichy, around a 15 minute bus ride from the Olympic Village, for Team GB to use as a performance base.
However, given the food in the village, it has been revealed that the athletes are now almost exclusively going to the base for their meals, with additional chefs having to be brought in in order to meet demand.
‘Our athletes have decided they would rather go and eat in our performance lodge in Clichy, so we are having to get another chef to come over as the demand is far exceeding what we thought it would be,’ Anson added.
‘The athletes are not going there just to eat their lunch, they are packing meals for their dinner as they don’t want to go into the athlete restaurant to eat.
‘So we are trying to make sure our athletes have an advantage by having more food.’
Issues surrounding the Olympic Village have been rife in the build-up to the games, with one problem being the absence of air conditioning, with teams hiring thousands of AC units having been left unsatisfied with the pre-installed eco-friendly water pumps.
Elsewhere, athletes including British diving legend Tom Daley have also sought to debunk the ‘anti-sex beds’ made out of cardboard.