Rower Henrik Rummel is an Olympic medalist and Harvard graduate. He’s also the guy whose bulge (pictured above) went viral at the 2012 Games in London, arguably catapulting Olympic peen spotting into a medal-worthy sport of its own. In our continuing coverage of all things bulge, Cosmopolitan.com spoke with Rummel about his Olympic body, all of it, and why he’s OK with it being a talking point although in his mind, there’s nothing really to talk about. (Oh, Henrik, but there is.)
We take our coverage of the Olympics seriously at Cosmo, and that means it includes everything from breaking medal updates to news on the hottest bodies out there. It’s not without controversy. So we just want to hear it straight from you, what are your thoughts on the “objectification” of male athletes?
I suppose, in decent taste, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it would bother anyone that has been in these articles. One of my friends was in Elle’s Top 20 Hottest Olympians or whatever, and he didn’t feel violated or anything. I don’t hear guys complaining about it. And I think why it would be considered OK for guys and not girls is because I don’t think there is any real history of men being possessions and being exploited by another sex. That is my first guess why we feel differently about it.
Do guys ever talk about it? You mention your friend who was in Elle - are you guys like, “Oh, that’s awesome” or do you give each other a hard time?
Oh yeah, when we find out about it, we will crack jokes. But also [he’s] just a good-looking guy, so it’s not like we are ripping on him.
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How much does tone or intention matter?
As long as the people [involved] are fine with it - like, you can joke around with your friends, but as soon as the friend starts taking offense to it, it changes the tone. Guys don’t take any offense to it at all and I don’t think they mind at all. I think it also depends on the girl’s side: If a men’s magazine ran a thing like “Most Attractive Women of the Olympics,” I think women would be fine with it - I imagine they would, I can’t speak for women as a whole but that is my impression. However if it was like, “Top 20 Olympic Racks,” I don’t think that would go over well, right?
As Olympians, your bodies are your tools. Do you feel like you want to flaunt your body more because of how much work you have put into it?
Well, I put zero work into presenting my body! But by virtue of training for the Olympics, this is what it looks like - we rowers have great bodies, very toned muscles, slim waists … so I mean, I like the way I look. I don’t know if “flaunting it” is the right [expression] but I like the way I look. Like any guy, I enjoy if I catch people catching glances. Not to be self-serving or anything, it doesn’t happen a lot - but I like it.
I have been training for 16 years [but] I haven’t exercised. Everything has been done to make myself a better rower. So it’s going to be pretty interesting [now that I’m retired]. I haven’t thought a lot about it but I imagine I am going to take workouts from my rowing background and apply them to other things like biking.
What about diet? Did you have a very specific eating regimen for training? Will you stick to something strict to maintain your physique?
[For rowers,] the best way I’ve heard someone explain it is that there is a balanced 2,000-calorie diet and then there’s 4- or 5,000 calories a day extra that is the energy we need to just fuel our bodies. We eat a lot and I try to eat well - I try to avoid things that are quote-unquote “bad for you.” In particular, in relationship to body fat, you don’t want extra weight slowing you down; you want things that are going to build muscle.
I am not going to completely change what I eat. I will probably do more pancakes and waffles once in awhile for breakfast, but I don’t think that my general approach to food will change much. After [the London Olympics], I took a couple of months off and it was interesting because at first, I just couldn’t eat - I wasn’t hungry at all. My appetite just completely left because I think I was so used to [eating as a way of] fueling my engine.
Would you say you have a lot of body insecurities?
I don’t really know yet. I have always been very aware of my weight but I don’t know what to think about how I look. It’s more like, “Oh no, if I am eating crappy for a little bit, I will be 4 pounds heavier than I normally am and I will notice that and that’s not good.” I imagine that if I start getting fat, I am not going to like it very much.
You mentioned earlier that you’re fine with the “objectification” if it’s in good taste. What would be something that you would consider not OK?
Well, OK, so the biggest bulges thing … again, I don’t really take offense to that, maybe it’s because guys think of it as a compliment? But if my mom were to see come up on her Newsfeed - I don’t want something like that on there for her sake. I would say it’s as close to crossing the line as I have seen on a mainstream news outlet present anything.
Bulge-specific, is it ever a topic of conversation at the games?
Yeah. You may know that I was on The Colbert Report for having a bulge at the last Olympics! It was on Colbert, then it was on The Daily Show, there were a ton of blogs about it. I took it kind of tongue-in-cheek and I thought it was hilarious, but my wife didn’t like it. She didn’t like that everyone was talking about that and not about me winning a medal at the Olympics. And the same thing with with my parents, they couldn’t avoid it at the time, and it’s not something that I am happy they had to go through.
From your wife’s point of view, was it more the fact that they were talking about something other than your achievements or was it the fact that they were talking about your bulge?
It was definitely the latter for her.
Related: Olympic Gymnast Danell Leyva on Medals, Bulges, and Gymnastic Stripteases
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