Henrik Christiansen is a Norwegian distance swimmer partaking in his third Olympics this year. He’s completed two out of his three events at the Paris games, finishing sixth in the Men’s 800m Freestyle and fourth in the Men’s 1,500m Freestyle. Though he hasn’t won a medal (yet), it seems Henrik has found a prize greater than gold, or silver or bronze. What could be better than that? The kid has gone bananas for a chocolate muffin made by the caterers for the Olympic Village. He’s filmed so many TikTok videos declaring his love for the treats that he’s been christened the Muffin Man of the Olympics, a badge he wears with pride. And before any of us make a snide comment about the muffins perhaps not helping his speed in the water, he actually placed better in his second event, one week into muffin-eating the games. I’ll have what he’s having, please.
Do you know the muffin man? No, not the one who lives on Drury Lane, but the Norwegian swimmer enamored with the chocolate muffins in the Olympic Village.
The ultra chocolate muffins are grabbing viral attention at the 2024 Paris Olympics thanks to the numerous TikTok videos made by the Norwegian distance swimmer Henrik Christiansen.
He first posted about the “Choccy muffin” in a July 25 TikTok reviewing food in the Olympic Village, which he gave the now-famous muffins an “Insane 11/10.”
He has posted about the muffins over 10 times since, with many of the videos gathering millions of views and amassing over 287,000 followers in the process. Posting a video on TikTok and using an audio from the movie “Shrek,” Christiansen permanently solidified his Olympic identity as the “Muffin Man.”
“The only Olympic village love story that matters,” one commenter posted on one of his many muffin-based videos.
“i am simply rooting for norway now because of the muffin man and i am not upset about it,” said another commenter.
But this is just one man’s opinion. The investigative journalists at People Mag went straight to the source — Sodexo Live!, the company providing all the food for the Olympic Village — to get to the warm, decadent center of this particular muffin:
The most popular baked good in the Olympic Village in Paris isn’t a croissant, pain au chocolat or any other classic French pastry — it’s a double chocolate muffin that’s gone viral on TikTok.
To figure out what makes the treats so irresistible, PEOPLE reached out to Sodexo Live!. The company is responsible for feeding the 15,000 athletes living in the Village.
A representative for the company tells PEOPLE that the goodies — made popular by Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen — are 130g “Maxi” muffins “presented in a tulip cup.”
“It is filled and topped with dark chocolate, featuring chunks of dark chocolate and milk chocolate. This muffin is served daily at the main athletes’ restaurant and at the six takeaway food areas within the Village,” the rep continued.
And the buzz isn’t just happening online — the chocolate muffins are actually flying off of the shelves in the Village, according to Sodexo Live!.
“This dessert is very popular, as around 2,000 chocolate muffins [are] consumed each day at the Athletes’ Village. In total, Sodexo Live! plans to serve 100,000 muffins throughout the Athletes’ Village during [the] Olympic and Paralympic Games,” says the company, which wouldn’t reveal the recipe.
Oh, well if it’s a double chocolate muffin we’re talking about, then that explains the lust. And 2,000 of these babies are being eaten by the athletes — per day?! I have to say, I don’t recall any previous Olympics I’ve lived through that have given us so many good food stories! Between Italy’s star gymnast being sponsored by parmesan cheese, and this Norwegian swimmer being cuckoo for Choco muffs, I’m starting to think that maybe I actually have what it takes to become a serious athlete. (Stop laughing.) Henrik Christiansen has one more event left, the Men’s 10km Open Water that will air at 1:30am ET on August 9. Whether or not the magic muffin propels him to a medal in that event, I wouldn’t be surprised if caterers Sodexo Live! tap him for official sponsorship. He’s more than earned it!
Photos credit Getty and via social media/Henrik Christiansen
If he is swimming lengths like that, he can have as many goshdarn muffins as he likes! 🙂
That’s what I’m thinking, load up on those carbs! I’d go for the croissants & pain au chocolat, myself; these seem a little rich.
Jordan The Stallion of tik tok etc found the recipe and made them, and they look decadent.
For those of us not on TikTok, any recipe source? It’s literally why I clicked.
King Arthur Baking was showcasing this recipe thos week
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/chocolate-breakfast-muffins-recipe
Filled and topped with dark chocolate with chunks of dark and milk chocolate. My heart is racing. This is the ultimate chocolate binge.
Of course they helped. Athletes need carbs before a race.
Well re the food I know the Dutch bought 5 microwaves and had frozen meals shipped over because by the time they wanted to eat the food was already gone.
I was wondering if there were some types of foods that you were supposed to eat and other to avoid when you’re a swimmer ? One of our French swimmers was crazy fast in his races so that’s pretty much the question I have been asking myself for like a week now. Muffins are carbs so I would have thought that they would tend to make you swim more slowly. It’s a fascinating subject.
There was an article about 10 olympic athletes and what they eat for breakfast. I was surprised to see most of it was what we would consider ”unhealthy” or even ”junk food” – sugary cereal, pancakes, white bread, jam, candy, cake etc.
The energy from carbs is quick to access and they don’t take long to digest, which can slow you down during a performance.
Ok now I’m feeling better about the whole pack of biscuits I ate before doing my workout this evening, they weren’t ’empty’ calories, they were ‘easy to access energy’!
(British use of the term ‘biscuit’ – sweet ones, jammie dodgers for anyone who’s interested)
@SarahCS – love a jammie dodger, what a throwback.
@Lau It’s the exact opposite. Ever heard the term “carb loading”? It’s what athletes so the days before a race. You increase your carbs in order to have easily accessible energy on the day of the race.
Ok, I just knew about the fact that you should be eating pasta the day before a race (on foot) but I don’t know why I thought that in order to swim better/faster you needed a diet that would make you feel “lighter”. Maybe I’m unconsciously thinking that you risk sinking if you eat something that is too heavy.
There’s an instagram by one of the US rugby women where she tries one. She says she doesn’t like chocolate but she loves the muffin. 😄
So much fun stuff is coming out of this olympics, social media has really evolved in the last 8 years and we probably didn’t get as much as we otherwise would in Tokyo because of the covid restrictions. I’m enjoying seeing things like this blow up.
It’s like the Steve the pommel horse guy story is great then you also see that he’s posting himself doing rubiks cubes in ridiculous times.
Speaking of, have also read what Steve the pommel horse guy had for breakfast – at least on the days he competed – was six apple slices and, a chocolate muffin. Funny now to hear now what a big deal that muffin is among the athletes! Seems to have worked for him…
Kaiser, I laughed out loud at: cuckoo for Choco muffs
Love a good choco muffin, but came to realize that I was basically eating chocolate cake for breakfast and had to stop.