Vegans Thriving. Elite Vegan Athletes
Samantha is a British athlete accomplished in Taekwondo and triathlon, representing her nation in both sports.
She enjoyed sports through childhood and at age 16 started competing internationally in Taekwondo. This was just two years after starting her first class in the martial art. Read More... “Samantha Taylor, vegan martial artist and triathlete”
Catra has run over 250 ultra marathons. She holds the overall record (for men and women) for completing the John Muir Trail twice (out and back), a total of 424 miles. Catra also has the second best all time result for a woman running one way (212 miles). Read More... “Catra Corbett, vegan ultramarathon runner”
James Southwood is an expert instructor and champion fighter in Savate. Savate (pronounced “Suh-vat”) is a dynamic sport that combines movements from English boxing and French kicking. He is a multiple Great British Champion, 2008 World Bronze Medallist, European Silver Medallist (twice), 2016 World Vice-Champion, and 2014 World Champion. Read More... “James Southwood, vegan fighter”
Jim Morris was a bodybuilder who has had an amazing career well into his older years. In the picture above he is aged 61.
In 1966 he entered his first competition aged 31 and became Mr New York City. Next year he won his first national title and in 1967 won Mr East Coast. Read More... “Jim Morris, vegan bodybuilder”
Former World Champion Harri travelled to Thailand to win the 1997 Thai Boxing title at 60kg. He beat the US champion in the semi and the Thai champion in the final.
Harri was 22 when he started eating vegan in 1994. Read More... “Harri Nieminem, vegan Thai Boxer”
Patrik was born in Iran and lives in Germany. In 1999 aged 20 he won the German Junior Bodybuilding title.
He broke the world log lift record for under 105kg, with a 165kg lift, as well as the German heavyweight log lift record . Read More... “Patrik Baboumian, vegan strongman”
Canadian Meagan Duhamel has skated singly and in pairs, although she is best known for skating in pairs.
Soon after working with partner Eric Radford she achieved fame when she and Eric were the first pair to perform a side-by-side triple lutz in competition. Read More... “Meagan Duhamel, vegan figure skater”
Spencer is established as one of the most successful drivers in North American race car driving. He has been competing at the top level for over twenty years. Spencer scored wins in the American Le Mans series and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Read More... “Spencer Pumpelly, vegan racing driver”
Andy Lally is a world class racing driver who has achieved historic all-time milestones.
He won the Rolex 24 hour at Daytona in 2001, 2009, 2011, 2012 (more here) and 2016 (more here). Andy holds the record for the most podium finishes in this race since the Grand Am era started in 2000. Read More... “Andy Lally, vegan racing driver”
Alex shot to fame in December 2005 when he won the World Champion Fitness title with WFF (World Fitness Federation). Five years before this he had become vegan in response to the cruelty of the animal food industries.
Although the motivation was “ethical, ecological, spiritual and healthy reasons (in that order)” Alex soon found that it was easy to find enjoyable food that worked with his strength objectives. Read More... “Alexander Dargatz, vegan bodybuilder”
Australian Joel Kirkilis is a vegan bodybuilder who became the Victoria (Aus) bodybuilding champion in 2009. In 2010 he entered the INBA Melbourne Open and the Victoria Class 2 competition, and finished second in each.
He has since been working on technique and coaching other athletes. Read More... “Joel Kirkilis, vegan bodybuilder and powerlifter”
Rob took up arm-wrestling in 2000. It was after a tournament in 2002 that he first starting feeling uncomfortable about eating meat and moving towards a vegan diet. Like many people, Rob had been led to believe that meat was an important part of building strength. Read More... “Rob Bigwood, vegan armwrestler”
Pat was diagnosed with a serious genetic cancer in 1977 when she was 32. The devastating news which led to her adopting a wholefood vegan diet. As a result her health has made an excellent recovery and the ‘terminal’ cancer has gone into remission. Read More... “Pat Reeves, vegan powerlifter”
Joni turned vegan in 1991, and started training for and competing in strongman events around 2000 in the 105kg weight category. Since then he has developed an impressive level of strength, with personal bests of 150kg for bench press, 230kg for squat and a deadlift of 262.5kg. Read More... “Joni Purmonen, vegan strongman”
Ed Templeton started skating in the 1980s as a boy in California. In 1988 (aged 16) he started to get sponsored and in 1990 he turned professional. In the same year he was featured on the front covers of Skateboard magazines TransWorld Skateboarding and Thrasher. Read More... “Ed Templeton, vegan skateboarder”
Greg Chappell captained Australia for two periods, 1975-1977 and then again from 1979 until his retirement in 1984. He was the leading batsman of his time, playing in 87 Test matches and recording a batting average of 53.86, recording 24 centuries. Read More... “Greg Chappell, vegan cricketer”
Michael has been a professional ice hockey player since 2001, and played regularly as a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies.
“Having terrific vision, soft hands and adept in a passing touch, and great skill on the faceoff, Zigomanis has molded his role as a third-line playmaker.” Read More... “Michael Zigomanis, vegan ice hockey player”
At 6’3″ and 116kg Georges cuts an imposing figure on the ice. Georges played in the lower leagues, before joining Edmonton to play in the Canadian National Hockey League in the 1997-98 season. Georges gained a reputation as an aggressive player, and was unanimously named “Best Fighter” by Hockey News in 2003. Read More... “Georges Laraque, vegan ice hockey player”
Pat’s skills were noticed at an early age and he was selected for the All-State team. He took the school record for stikeouts in a single game, in a season and in a career.
In 1998 aged 18 he had the opportunity of playing in the Major League but it was not until 2006 that he played for Minnesota Twins. Read More... “Pat Neshek, vegan baseball player”
Andreas started playing in the Swiss National League aged 17, and soon the 189cm (6’2″) Defenceman became established player, moving clubs in 2002 then joining SC Bern, with whom the national title was won.
At the start of this career came the start of Andreas’ veganism. Read More... “Andreas Hanni, vegan ice hockey player”
Craig is a champion figure skater and choreographer known for his positive attitude and high energy routines.
Craig turned professional in 1993, and achieved a number of notable career highlights both before and since doing so.
In 1990 he visited England and won Skate Electric, and in 1991 he won the US National Championships. Read More... “Craig Heath, vegan figure skater”
Mac Danzig is a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitor who competed at the highest level. He is recognised as an outstanding grappler, although he has scored some impressive victories through striking, and is also known as a quality boxer.
Mac started his MMA career in 2001 aged 21 and in 2005 won the King Of The Cage Lightweight Championship. Read More... “Mac Danzig, vegan martial artist”
Christine ias a former US national team member with many successes including a win at the 2004 Santa Cruz Classic Criterium.
In 2001 she made the US national team and competed at the Cyclo-Cross World Championships. Later that year she took 9th in the Heerlen World Cup (Netherlands) and 8th in the Wetzikon World Cup in Switzerland. Read More... “Christine Vardaros, vegan cyclist”
Molly won the 2004 and 2011 Cross Crusade Singlespeed Series and has been Oregon state champion twice. She has achieved a large number of individual race victories in her career.
Finding vegan
“When I turned 15 or 16 I realized that I did not have to eat meat, so I stopped. Read More... “Molly Cameron, vegan cyclist”
Weia is a veterans athletics multiple world record holder and vegan.
She started competing in masters athletics in 1995 aged 45, following decades of not training at all. By 1999 she was competing in Gateshead, UK, where she came second to an athlete who set a world records for the womens age 45 age category. Read More... “Weia Reinboud, vegan track and field athlete”
Fiona Oakes has made great achievements in her running, which seem all the more impressive given her incredibly full lifestyle. This means that training competes with a number of other demands on her time and energy.
Fiona has worked as a retained firefighter, a job which meant she was often on call and needed to be ready to react quickly. Read More... “Fiona Oakes, vegan marathon runner”
Rich Roll’s transition to world-recognised athlete started when at 40 he realised his health was being threatened by a poor lifestyle that involved use of alcohol and other drugs, poor diet and inactivity. Unable to climb his stairs, he adopted a whole food vegan diet and began to train. Read More... “Rich Roll, vegan ultraman”
Canadian triathlete and endurance runner Brendan Brazier has won triathlons at Olympic distance, Half Ironman and full Ironman. Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and marathon (26.2 mile) run. He has set the Bigfoot Half Ironman course record twice and was twice Canadian 50k champion, in 2003 and 2006. Read More... “Brendan Brazier, vegan triathlete”
Few athletes have made an impression on their sport like Colorado-based Scott Jurek has made on the demanding sport of ultra marathon running.
Scott has led the sport with some amazing performances including multiple wins and course records. Ultramarathon running starts at the distances beyond the standard marathon of 26.2 miles (42km), while Scott has excelled up to 246k. Read More... “Scott Jurek, vegan ultramarathon runner”
The cyclocross champion has been vegan since 22 (1998) after several years of vegetarianism and on/off veganism.
“I did not want to cause suffering to animals. I knew that animals often lived under horrible conditions on factory farms, and that they do not have voices to scream and yell to their abusers, leaving them totally without the power to save themselves.” Read More... “Catherine Johnson, vegan cyclist”