International Vegetarian Union (IVU)
Section 6: Vegetarianism and sports - Some vegetarian athletes

6.1: Carl Lewis is probably one of fastest athletes in the world. In 1991, he broke the world record for 100 meters in 9.86 seconds.
6.2: Edwin Moses >From 1977 to 1987 he has achieved 122 victories in the 400 meter hurdles. His career included two Olympic gold medals, two world titles and four world records in his specialty. During this time he achieved a streak of 122 consecutive victories.	6.3: Martina Navratilova. She was the first tennis player to win Wimbledon nine times with six of those nine wins being consecutive. She broke the record for professional tennis titles of 74 in 1984 and since has achieved a total of 167 titles.
The vegetarian and vegan diets are perfectly compatible with sports activities including intense activities such as strength training or weight lifting. Since the vegan diet is high in carbohydrates which are needed to fuel the body, athletes are easily sustained with this type of nourishment.
6.4: Paavo Nurmi Marathon runner Paavo Nurmi has achieved 20 world records and has won nine Olympic gold medals. In the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris, he won the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters in the same evening with just one hour of rest between the two events.
We now know that not only does the human body require protein, but it also requires carbohydrates and fats to provide the necessary energy for the athlete. And in fact, glycogen in the muscles determines in great part the athlete's muscular resistance and the production of glycogen is related to the consumption of complex carbohydrates. Vegetarians and vegans can satisfy their protein and nutritional requirments by simply increasing their caloric intake without any problem. On average, vegetarians obtain 12,5% of their calories from protein and vegans obtain 11%. For example, an 80 kg (176 lbs.) athlete who consumes 3600 calories daily in a vegetarian diet, would obtain 1.41g of protein per kilogram of body weight - more than enough for the majority of sportsmen. With a vegan diet, an athlete would obtain 1,2g of protein per kilogram of body weight - also sufficient the majority of sportsmen.

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These pages were created in March 2002 by Marina Berati