The astounding displays of skill, strength and endurance exhibited at the Olympic Games have long lit an ambition in spectators and inspired people to go after their own athletic objectives. 

Rather than jumping in a swimming pool, mounting a bike, or grasping a javelin, however, this Olympics has inspired a large portion of people to focus on something a little different... muffins. 

Every day 3,000 muffins were provided in the Olympic Village as part of the nearly 40,000 daily meals served to thousands of athletes reigning from more than 200 countries and Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen was famously their biggest fan.

Christiansen's joke obsession with the Olympic chocolate muffins was one of the more unpredictable viral moments to come out of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the "muffin man", as he is lovingly referred to online, gathered thousands of views on TikTok.

From a video introducing the muffins and awarding them an 11/10 star review to a video of Christiansen pretending to be caught red-handed with a stash of muffins in his drawers, the Norweigan shot to viral stardom courtesy of his muffin-related TikTok videos. 

Many New Yorkers watching the Paris summer games from afar were then given the chance to see what all the fuss was about on Saturday 17 August when Isshiki Matcha in East Village launched a pop-up offering the imported Olympic village muffins "from 10 am 'till sold out" 

The East Village cafe knew it was offering something special but perhaps didn't expect the results as hordes lined up for hours determined to sample the now iconic snack.

The 27-year-old who inspired what has been dubbed "muffin-mania" recently spoke about his popularity saying "I never in my life thought that I would be taking fan photos in the Olympic village because that’s usually only the biggest athletes, but I’ve been doing it. People have been coming up to me, chatting about the muffin, having a chat."

"I think three weeks ago I had 3000 followers on TikTok, now I’m at almost half a million. So it’s been unreal. You never really think it’s going to happen. You see other people blowing up like that and then you think it’s never going to happen to you, but here I am.