Meet Henrik Christiansen, the ‘Muffin Man’ of the Paris Olympics

Hundreds of baguettes are baked daily within the Olympic Village to serve the more than 15,000 competing athletes, but one baked good seems to have them all in an uproar. And it’s not even French.  

The so-called Olympic Muffin Man Henrik Christiansen, a 27-year-old swimmer for Team Norway, is documenting his love for a specific gooey chocolate muffin served at the Olympic Village with a series of TikToks professing his adoration of the treat. 

Six days ago, after some of his first meals at the Olympic Village in Paris, Christiansen posted that the “choccy muffin” ranked an 11/10  and was “insane.” Compared to his 7/10 rating of fettuccine with a pile of pesto and a pork skewer and a 6/10 chicken gyoza, which can’t compare to the version he tried in Tokyo three years ago, this muffin ranks among his best bites ever. 

By the next day, Friday, July 26, Christiansen posted a video dedicated to the muffin, calling it “the single greatest thing about the Olympic Village so far.” He also posted a video showcasing the chocolate muffin’s gooey center and chocolate smeared on his face, with a caption in Norwegian, saying, “Excited to see if this reaches an international audience.” With more than 166,000 likes and a segment on the Today Show, it’s safe to say it has.

Within days, Christiansen became a full-on muffin influencer, posting TikTok memes of himself enjoying the muffin around the Olympic Village and officially declaring himself the Olympic Muffin Man on Sunday.

If other athletes can’t get their hands on the coveted chocolate muffin, it may be because Christiansen has a drawer full of them in his room.

After competing in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, this is Christiansen’s third Olympics, but his first falling in love with a bakery treat. In Rio, he came in 8th for the 1,500-meter freestyle race, ranked number 17 for the ​​400-meter Freestyle competition, and number 40 for the 200-meter freestyle. In 2020, he didn’t advance to the finals or semifinals but was ninth for men’s 800-meter freestyle in the first heat. He was ranked 21 for both the 400-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle. He’s competed in one race so far in the Paris games — the Men’s 800 m freestyle. He ranked 25th and won’t advance with a time of 8:00.55. 

Christiansen still has two events in the games: the men’s 1500-meter freestyle on Saturday, July 3, and the 10km Open Water race on Friday, August 9. Will the extra week of eating chocolate muffins fuel him to his first medal? Or is the abundant chocolatey treat enough of a win for the aquatic athlete? It doesn’t matter because he’ll always rank first in our hearts for his love of muffins. 

Christiansen posted a new video on July 31, boldly snubbing the French pain au chocolate in favor of his beloved muffin. We’ll see how that pans out for him in Paris and whether the Olympic caterer, Sodexo, will drop the muffin recipe.