Olympic Muffin Man's fame not from swimming, but TikTok reaction 'unreal'

NANTERRE, France — Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen is one of the stars of the Paris Olympics, just maybe not in the way he imagined or hoped. 

The three-time Olympian wishes he would make headlines for his distance swimming performances. But instead, Christiansen is the unofficial Muffin Man of the Paris Games, thanks to his numerous TikToks showcasing his love for the chocolate muffins in the Olympic Village. 

"What's not to like?" the 27-year-old swimmer said after finishing 20th in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle prelims Saturday.

"They're liquid in the center. They have chocolate chips. They're really rich. They're moist. It's just − everything is really good."

Christiansen swam the men’s 800-meter freestyle Monday and finished 25th, and he still has the men’s open water 10k marathon swim in the Seine River set for Aug. 9. 

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But fans on social media love him for his chocolate muffin TikToks, which, as USA TODAY’s For The Win noted, are gold medal-worthy with tens of millions of views and counting.

Abundant with creativity and humor, Christiansen’s TikToks about the chocolate muffins are wildly entertaining. They’ve also boosted his social platform from what he estimated was about 3,000 followers before the Paris Olympics to more than 340,000 and 16.7 million likes as of Saturday. 

"(The response has) been unreal," he said. "I had never in my life thought it would be as big as it has become. As professional athletes, we always want to excel at everything we do. So I kind of feel like it's been an arena where I feel accomplished. But I've also been very careful not to let it affect (me), not to drain too much energy."

Christiansen said he usually stays off social media during big competitions. But with TikTok, he can make a quick video, post it and carry on with his day. 

He’s putting his joyful personality on display, giving the muffins an "11/10" rating, and his use of audio from an iconic Shrek scene was elite work.

As a professional athlete, he views himself "as being in the entertainment business," and making TikToks about his experience in Olympic Village is another way to engage and show fans backstage moments at the Olympics. 

While the videos have made the Oslo resident a social media star, Christiansen said he’s become a popular figure in the village as well. 

"I have taken fan photos in the village as the muffin guy, which, I mean, if you're taking fan photos in the Olympics, you're someone," he said. "All the other athletes that are really top, top − like (Rafael) Nadal or like Simone Biles − they're taking fan photos. Of course, I wish that it was because of my swimming, but this is also fun."

Christiansen isn’t subsisting solely off of chocolate muffins; it just looks that way based on his videos. But he says he’s had maybe six since he arrived at the Games. 

In the Olympic Village, he said he’s enjoying oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and things like pasta and chicken later in the day. 

While he said he personally enjoyed the food at the Tokyo Olympics more, especially the dumplings and sushi, he doesn’t totally agree with athlete complaints about the food in Paris. 

But the chocolate muffins remain a delightful treat.

"I am not necessarily only a muffin guy, but I am very fond of dessert," Christiansen said. 

"As a long distance athlete and an endurance athlete, on really heavy training days, I get up to almost 7,000 calories in a day. So it's hard to get up to those numbers if you're only having salad. So once I've covered what I need to have in a day, I get to have dessert as well."

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