Competing in the Olympics is the ultimate dream for many athletes. The event is a colossal undertaking for host cities, too—Paris welcomes roughly 10,500 athletes who will compete for 329 medals this year.
But even before it has officially commenced, the Games seems to be falling short in some ways: the Olympic Village, where athletes stay during the event, isn’t serving enough nutritious food.
Team GB, the group of athletes representing Britain at the Olympics, has decided to ditch restaurants in the village for this reason.
“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,” Andy Anson, chief of the British Olympic Association, told The Times. “They have got to improve it over the next couple of days dramatically.”
Given the issues, the team’s athletes have been eating at the performance lodge in Clichy, a suburb of Paris, with a special chef who cooks for them away from the Olympic Village. Athletes have also been carrying packed lunches, Anson said.
It takes a village—quite literally—to prepare over 13 million meals and snacks for those attending the Olympics and Paralympics. Touted the “largest catering event in the world,” athletes are said to have access to different cuisines and about 500 different recipes, which fall under a “quality charter” that the Paris planning committee has devised.
The Paris 2024 committee's goals include limiting waste and promoting seasonal produce, as well as " reducing animal proteins” and offering more plant-based options.
Despite rounding up A-list chefs and offering a greater variety, athletes coming to the village don’t have “adequate” meals, Anson said.
Qualms about the quality and quantity of food ahead of the Games demonstrate the scale of this operational challenge. The village is designed to be minimalist while ensuring all the athletes’ needs are met. This year, for instance, athletes’ beds will be supported with cardboard to make them more environmentally friendly. But things look different if you’re a surfer competing in Paris 2024 who stays at a floating village.
The U.S. men’s basketball team famously stays in a high-end accommodation rather than in a village due to security concerns and lifestyle preferences.
The Olympic Village has encountered other challenges, too. Some teams have complained about the lack of air conditioning, which was removed to slash the event’s carbon footprint, but risks putting athletes in discomfort during the peak summer months.
Individual teams have taken matters into their own hands by installing mobile air conditioning to ensure athletes feel comfortable as they gear up for one of their most important sporting tournaments.
Team GB was one of them as it spent about £70,000 installing air-conditioning systems to keep athletes cool, The Guardian reported Wednesday. The goal? To help athletes “thrive” and bring them together to build culture, Team GB’s director of sport services, Mark England, said.
Sodexo Live, the company managing the Olympics catering, is ramping up daily orders for its most popular dishes, including eggs and chicken, according to French newspaper L’Equipe.
Representatives at Team GB and the Paris 2024 organizing committee didn’t immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
