Olympians resist the food hall treats

‘‘Imagine a space the size of two rugby fields, filled with anything and everything you could ever want to eat, for free, 24 hours a day.’’

That’s how Jeni Pearce, High Performance Sport New Zealand’s lead nutritionist describes the Olympic dining hall.

Four years ago in London, it was described as the world’s largest peacetime catering operation and it will be no different in Rio.

From the start of the Games to the finish, the 17,000 athletes and officials in attendance will eat 60,000 meals a day, made from 210,000kg of ingredients, and served on 4 million plates. In selecting those meals, they will be spoilt for choice, with the dietary needs of everyone from everywhere taken into account.

Keeping from being overwhelmed by what’s on offer is one of the biggest challenges athletes faces at the Olympics, says Pearce.

‘‘It’s about not eating anything you don’t recognise or don’t know about until after your event, it’s saying I eat what I normally eat at home because I’m in competition mode, this is not a holiday or a party or a special occasion, this is what I’ve spent the last four, six, eight years training for, and keeping that focus until their event is over.’’

Black Sticks midfielder Shea McAleese is a veteran of the Beijing and London games, and says that while it can be hard to keep that advice in mind, it is important.

‘‘It definitely does get a little bit boring, doing it that way, but you know that’s the way that helps you perform, so you have to dictate everything about what gives you the best performance. If you’re set in a way with how you’ve been eating up to games, you try not to adjust that too much.’’

‘‘You could walk out and grab 10 Magnum ice creams or 10 cheeseburgers if you wanted to, but that’s not what you do at home, so you don’t want to do that there. There’s all this lovely food available and we might have a night game, but I’ll still just grab muesli because I know that’s what helps me perform.’’

Kiwi race walker Quentin captures it eloquently.

‘‘The Olympic village has everything that you need to prepare you for the biggest race of your life,’’ he says. ’’But also everything you could ask for to distract you from the biggest race of your life.’’

Those distractions aren’t limited to what athletes are shovelling down their throats either. With almost every elite sportsperson in the world in attendance, and the dining hall where they Rew need to go to eat, mix and mingle.

‘‘When Usain Bolt walked into the dining room in London, it almost went silent, and there were a couple of other tennis stars who came in – they really are the rock stars of the sporting environment, and the impact it has on it’s a great place to everyone when really famous athletes are awestruck by these incredibly talented, unique individuals, that was really intriguing to see.’’

It’s something McAleese has noticed, and enjoyed, but that he is also wary of, to an extent.

‘‘You’ve got to be careful that you don’t spend too much time in there, because you can get stuck people watching, or get caught talking to a lot of people as well,’’ he says.

‘‘The cool thing is that being a team, we’ll always try to go the dining hall for our three set meals together, and make sure we sit together, because that’s what we normally do on tour.’’