WASHINGTON — With 3,000 athletes from 92 countries competing in this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea, the culinary offerings are broad and varied.
However, despite the competitors having different tastes and food preferences, how they fuel their bodies, and what with, seems to be of high importance to all of them.
Sally Squires, who writes the Lean Plate Club™ blog, told WTOP food is a major component of the Olympic athletes training and their success. Fueling up well, but not too much is really important, Squires said. For example, if the athletes are taking part in downhill skiing, they would be taking into account exactly how much they would want to eat before competing.
Researchers recently looked at participants in the 2006 Melbourne Games and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, according to Squires.
Seven hundred sixty-nine elite athletes participated in a survey carried out by The School of Health and Sport Sciences at The University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.
“The stage where they were in the competition mattered,” Squires said.
Researchers also found the nutrient composition of the food mattered and the athletes “wanted to fuel up if they were doing something for endurance,” or where body weight was important, she said.
The stage of the competition they were in also influenced food choices as well as the time of the day that they ate their food before the competition.
The study found familiarity with the foods served was of high importance.
The aroma of food and familiarity was more important to female athletes than it was to their male counterparts, Squires said.
The study also found that athletes from non-Western nations were more likely to care about food choice input from their coaches and team mates than those from Western countries.
Squires said catering for a “global group of athletes” is no mean feat for those preparing food at the Olympic Village.
“In the U.S., we might have certain foods that we think are great, but then if you are from India or China, you might have other foods that you really like,” she said.
With such a wide array of food, safeguards are put in place to make sure it stays safe and is not contaminated by food borne illnesses.
With a norovirus outbreak at the Pyeongchang Olympics early February, the importance of hand washing is paramount. It’s the flu season in Korea like it is in the United States, Squires said.
