Do You Know The (Olympic) Muffin Man?
I LOVE the Olympics. The first Olympics I remember watching was the 2008 Beijing Summer Games when Michael Phelps was in his prime. Ever since then, my eyes have been glued to my TV every two years while I’ve been cheering for Team USA as hard as I’m sure most of you out there are. But this year’s Games are a little bit different. Not on TV, but online.
New Kind of Olympic Viewing
This year, athletes worldwide have been documenting what it’s been like to be in the Olympic Village on platforms like TikTok.
While we did get some insight into what the lives are like of athletes competing in the Games during the last Winter event, it paled in comparison to this year. We’ve been seeing the cardboard beds they’re sleeping on, the pins they’re trading, the friends they’re making, and the memes/trends they’re participating in.
But there’s one athlete who has been dominating my, and many others ‘For You’ Page for the past couple of days. And it’s not Simone Biles (even though we’ve seen a lot of her, of course).
His name is Henrik Christiansen and he’s sent the Internet into a tailspin. Have you heard of him? He’s a 27-year-old swimmer from Norway competing in his third Olympics. But that’s not really what TikTok knows him for. He is known for his love of the chocolate muffins they serve in the Village. It’s all he’s posted about since the Games have officially begun.
It started with one video, then another. It’s now been 5 days of nonstop muffin content. And I can’t say I blame him, those muffins look really good. But as word has gotten around about Henrik and his muffins, other athletes have been posting about these muffins. Or how they’re hoping to find the Muffin Man.
Even though Team USA has already won 37 medals as of the writing of this article (on August 1st), the real winner of the 2024 Olympics is Coup De Pates, the supplier of the muffins. Unfortunately for most of you reading this, only those working in the food industry can buy them directly from the company. But if you do somehow get your hands on these, please message me immediately. I’ve completely bought into the hype and I want to try these muffins very badly.
And if any of you are curious as to what kind of an athlete the Olympic Muffin Man is, you can watch him compete in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle event on Saturday, August 3rd. He’ll be in the second heat. As much as I love the silly goofiness of it all, go Team USA!
The Olympics are going on now through August 11th in Paris and can be watched on NBC and streamed on Peacock.