BEING a country-living, GAA-playing fella, 'coming out' as vegetarian was tantamount in some quarters to announcing I was a member of Al Qaeda. I have known grown men to shake their heads in incredulity, muttering things about 'rabbit food'. Not to say that this view is solely restricted to the rural parts of our fair isle, I have had many an exchange with what I like to term the 'urban redneck'.

For instance, one of my work colleagues, who should really know better, argued that it couldn't be possible to maintain a vegetarian diet and be a top performing athlete.

Two words, 'Carl' and 'Lewis'. Lewis is probably the greatest Olympian in modern memory, with nine, count them, nine Olympic gold medals, world 100m record holder, world long-jump record holder and vegetarian.

Moreover, he's not alone, between 1988 and 1994 Lewis traded the 100m world record with another american sprinter, and fellow Olympic gold medal winner, Leroy Burrell. In 1988 Lewis ran 9.92, Burrell then ran 9.90 in New York in June 1991, Lewis bested that with 9.86 in the same year but Burrell fought back with a 9.85 in Switzerland in 1994, a record which stood for another two years. My point being? The two athletes setting world records in probably one of the most power demanding competitions in the world were vegetarian.

Or what about the 'Flying Finn' Paavo Nurmi, who won a total of nine gold and three silver medals in the 12 events he competed at the Olympic Games from 1920 to 1928, also a veggie.

If that's not evidence enough for you, how about the invincible man of world athletics? Ed Moses won two Olympic gold medals in the 400m hurdles, it doubtless would have been three had the US not boycotted the 1980 Moscow games. Stunning and all as that feat was, Moses really stands out above his fellow athletes for going undefeated for a remarkable, nine years, nine months and nine days. He won 122 consecutive races, that translates as a hell of a lot of meat eaters unsuccessfully chasing this particular 'rabbit'.

And it's not just power events where veggies have excelled, they have a healthy record in endurance events too. There are some that would argue that possibly the greatest endurance sporting event in the world is the Ironman Triathlon. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and ending with a 26 mile marathon. This event has been won no less than six times by vegetarian Dave Scott, the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. Others would contend that the three-week Tour de France holds sporting endurance's claim to fame. In 1984 Scotland's Robert Millar, another veggie, won the coveted 'King of the Mountains' polka dot jersey.

Vegetarianism also doesn't hurt longevity, Sir Stanley Matthews, one of the greatest soccer players of all time was vegetarian and played top level football until he was 50 years old, the oldest player ever to play in England's top division.

There are many others vegetarians at the top of their sporting field, such as Tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, New York Jets' legendary quarterback Joe Namath, four-time olympic gold medal winning swimmer Murray Rose, former WBC Middleweight World Title holder Keith Holmes, and ok, so he wasn't necessarily a sporting icon, but Bruce Lee was also a vegetarian, and I for one wouldn't have messed with him.

Now I'm not saying these people were fantastic athletes because they were vegetarian, I'm just countering the claim that you can't be vegetarian and perform at the highest sporting level. Whether you are a world class athlete, a weekend athlete, or simply a recreational exerciser, you can meet your performance objectives, and improve your health by eating a plant-based diet that meets your energy needs.