Olympic Eats
Nutrition and food-service design concept for the Paris 2024 Olympic context. A sustainable ordering application aimed at giving athletes full access to performance nutrition while improving sustainable behaviour through clearer information, controlled ordering, and incentive design.
The Problem
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the IOC met its sustainability benchmarks: 250km local sourcing, 100% recyclable packaging, a plant-based emphasis. But athletes experienced a different reality: food shortages, inadequate protein, 30-minute queues, and limited variety. The German hockey team called it "a disaster." Adam Peaty described "long queues and worms in the fish." Daria Saville said she'd "need 14 of them right now to feel full."
This was not simply a matter of athlete preference. It was a food-service systems problem: the sustainability agenda had been applied without adequate alignment with athletes' nutritional requirements for performance. Access to appropriate food had become inconsistent and uncertain at the exact moment athletes needed it most. I asked: how could a digital system give athletes reliable access to high-performance nutrition while supporting, not undermining, sustainability goals?
Research
Triangulated across three methods: quantitative surveys with 41 high-level athletes, semi-structured interviews with 6 athletes, and an expert interview with Amy McLean, Experience Designer and Biodesigner at frog.
The research phase produced 151 affinity notes organised into 19 groups and 5 themes. Athletes were willing to engage with sustainability, but not at the expense of performance nutrition. Most prioritised animal-based protein and carbohydrates over other food categories, had limited knowledge of plant-based protein equivalents, and defaulted to familiar options under time pressure.
McLean challenged the assumption that education alone could shift behaviour. Sustainability, she argued, is "a buzzword used for marketing": it's a systemic issue, not an individual responsibility. That shifted my design direction: away from trying to persuade athletes into making more sustainable choices, and toward building a system where sustainable options are easier to find, understand, and choose.
Performance first
Athletes prioritise animal-based protein for performance. Vegan alternatives are perceived as insufficient in both nutrition and taste.
Willing but uninformed
Interest in sustainability exists but knowledge of high-protein alternatives is low. Athletes need education, not restriction.
Systems, not individuals
Competition food systems are built for scale, not precision. Many athletes bring or cook their own food at the Games.
Ideation
Three concepts developed through Crazy 8s, Worst Possible Idea, and Mash-up exercises: an AI nutrition tracker, a food dispensing kiosk, and a feedback-driven ordering app. I evaluated all three using a Pugh Decision Matrix across seven weighted criteria, with performance impact and sustainability weighted highest. The ordering application scored 31.5 out of 33 and was selected.
Key Features
Macronutrient Transparency
Every meal displays its full nutritional breakdown (protein, carbohydrates, fats, calories, and serving size) at the point of selection. The research showed athletes were making choices blind, so the design puts performance data front and centre before any ordering decision is made.
Curated Meals + Build Your Own
Athletes with strict nutritional targets need precision; athletes under time pressure need speed. Two ordering paths solve for both: a curated menu filtered by cuisine, dietary tags, and sustainability rating, and a component-based builder where you choose protein, carbs, preparation method, and marinade individually.
Sustainability Swap
Rather than replacing animal protein, the swap system lets athletes substitute incrementally (25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% plant-based) while maintaining equivalent total protein. This preserves performance-first nutrition as the default while giving athletes a clear, voluntary path toward more sustainable choices. Each substitution earns Sustainability Points for their country. The key insight was that athletes would engage with sustainability if it didn't mean compromising performance.
Country Leaderboard + Feedback
Sustainability Points accumulate at a national level, turning individual meal choices into a collective competition between countries. After ordering, a contextual fact translates the choice into tangible environmental impact. Athletes can also rate meals for quality, taste, and performance, feeding back directly to the kitchen management system to improve future offerings.
Testing
Tested with 5 athletes using a four-step protocol: think-aloud task completion → structured interview (4 questions) → SUS survey → unstructured follow-up. In-person testing captured non-verbal cues like hesitation, squinting at labels, and reaching for the wrong button alongside verbal feedback.
13 points above average
69 affinity notes were organised across 11 themes. Three areas needed work:
- Visual feedback: buttons didn't change state after selection; athletes weren't sure their choices registered. "I want the buttons to change colour after I click them."
- Serving clarity: macronutrient display lacked gram-per-serve values; the mix-and-match percentage system was confusing. "I didn't understand what 50% plant-based meant at first."
- Education: athletes wanted context on why options are sustainable and how the leaderboard works. "I want education behind what makes the meal sustainable."
Iterations
Macronutrient labels redesigned: the original display lacked clear quantities, so athletes couldn't compare meals against their targets. The redesign surfaces explicit gram values, serving sizes, and calorie counts at the point of selection, removing the guesswork that testing revealed was causing hesitation and mistrust.
Visual feedback added: athletes weren't confident their selections had registered because nothing on screen changed when they tapped. Adding selection highlights and order confirmation notifications closed the feedback loop, giving users certainty at each step of the ordering flow.
Onboarding and education: the sustainability features only work if athletes understand why they exist. A first-launch walkthrough now explains the country competition, points system, and substitution mechanic before the first order. Contextual facts after each order reinforce the impact of the choice just made, building understanding over time rather than front-loading information.
Reflection
Olympic Eats reframes the tension between sustainability and athlete nutrition as a service design and information problem, rather than a policy conflict. By giving athletes transparency and choice instead of restriction, the concept was designed to align institutional goals with individual performance needs. The expert interview with Amy McLean was pivotal: it shifted the design direction from persuasion-led education toward systemic transparency: a system where the more sustainable choice is the clearer and easier one, not the compromised one.
With only one round of user testing completed, the concept would benefit significantly from further iteration and testing, particularly around the mix-and-match ordering system and the sustainability education features. The next step would involve testing the ordering management system with food service operators, and exploring how the concept could scale across the complexity of a real Olympic food service environment.