What Team USA Is Eating at the Olympics and Paralympics

SELF Magazine

For any athlete, food is fuel and a crucial part of any competition prep. SELF gets the lowdown on what Team USA is eating for dinner the night before a competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - The night before a track meet,

00:05 I usually have a plate of pasta

00:07 and a glass and a half of wine or two.

00:10 Depends on the mood.

00:11 - Salmon, some pasta, and usually some veggies,

00:16 like broccoli or something.

00:17 I do pasta the night before.

00:19 I don't like it on game day.

00:20 - What I eat for dinner the night before a big game

00:23 or a big competition, to be honest, it varies.

00:25 We compete all across the world

00:27 and we usually don't have access to the same thing

00:30 every time.

00:31 My plate kind of consists of the same thing.

00:33 It's usually a third veggies, a third carbs,

00:36 and a third protein, so that we can compete

00:39 at the best of our abilities the next day.

00:41 - Eating a steak.

00:42 I'm a steak boy, steak me down.

00:43 - I usually eat pasta for dinner.

00:46 I'm very much a tomato sauce kind of girl

00:48 or a carbonara, but pasta is always my go-to before a show.

00:52 - We don't always get to choose exactly what we want to eat

00:55 because when you play international matches,

00:57 a lot of times you're eating at a hotel

00:59 or possibly in an Olympic village.

01:00 But ideally, I like to have some good carbs in there,

01:04 like a pasta.

01:05 And then normally I'll do something a little bit more simple

01:08 like a chicken, so like white meat, although I love fish.

01:11 I am a big veggie girl, so I'll supply a good amount

01:14 of veggies on the side as well.

01:15 So I'm feeling ready and fueled for game day.

01:18 - Yeah, and I'll eat basically the same thing.

01:22 - I typically have some steak, some red meat,

01:25 and some fruit.

01:26 That's just about the meal that I have

01:28 almost every single day, every single meal.

01:30 - I eat pretty much whatever the venue hotel has for me.

01:34 I definitely try to get in like, you know,

01:36 classic or carb, a vegetable, protein.

01:38 I actually don't really get that many vegetables.

01:40 I like to carb up.

01:41 Definitely some pasta, bread, a roll with some butter,

01:44 but I kind of, whatever's available to me,

01:45 I don't have anything that I have to eat.

01:47 - To be completely honest, I don't have a set routine

01:50 for dinner before races.

01:51 Typically I'm in a foreign country,

01:53 so I'll go to a restaurant that seems like a safe choice.

01:56 - I am a big believer in the carb loading before racing,

01:59 but definitely can't go too hard

02:01 'cause you don't wanna be sick the next day.

02:03 - Usually for supper, eat a lot of chicken and broccoli.

02:07 I found that eating portion sizes before an event

02:10 actually is not so good for me

02:12 because then I end up getting shaky

02:13 halfway through the round.

02:14 So usually on during practice days

02:17 and all that kind of stuff, I stay to my routine.

02:19 But if I know I'm competing the next day,

02:21 I wanna eat a lot of carbs.

02:22 I just like load up on carbs.

02:24 - That varies depending on where we're at.

02:27 So if we are at a big tournament that has like a calf,

02:30 usually some kind of meat 'cause I'm a meat girl,

02:32 a veggie to just keep my body happy

02:35 because when you travel, your body's not always happy.

02:38 And you feel kind of just like full and bloated

02:40 and just not nice, so.

02:42 - I like to have like a lot of pasta

02:44 and some kind of protein, usually probably chicken,

02:47 but I keep it pretty basic the night before.

02:49 And then the day of, we always have,

02:51 try to have breakfast for our pregame.

02:53 So I always have like five pancakes.

02:54 - I kind of feel like I switch it up a lot.

02:56 I do try to make sure we get our carbohydrates in.

02:58 I love to have Pad Thai,

02:59 but that's not always an option when we're on tour.

03:02 - I try to carb load a lot, get some good proteins.

03:04 I'll get a pasta or a burger or steak,

03:07 something that's comforting, not too heavy,

03:10 but it's gonna give me some good energy.

03:12 - Cucumber and mozz salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

03:15 Always slaps.

03:17 And then yeah, I need some protein and carbs.

03:19 Any type of pasta.

03:20 I just like rigatoni

03:21 with just some ground beef.

03:24 And then, you know, you can put pesto, red sauce,

03:26 no dessert the night before,

03:28 but definitely after a victory, yeah,

03:30 some dessert for sure.

03:31 - Honestly, nothing heavy, just simple carbs.

03:33 I'm also really used to having at home

03:36 and I don't like to switch things up,

03:37 especially before a big race.

03:39 And it also depends on what there is there to eat,

03:42 but something familiar that I know I like,

03:45 that my stomach likes,

03:46 and just it's not like going to be waking up

03:49 with surprises in the morning 'cause it's a new thing.

03:51 - Well, we're out, you know, in the world.

03:55 So a lot of times it varies what is actually served,

03:58 but I really try to make sure it's a good portion of carbs.

04:01 You know, some sports it's good to have like a pasta night

04:04 or, you know, something heavy,

04:05 but I think lighter, on the lighter side,

04:08 a lot of protein and veggies mostly just to next day.

04:12 I think the lighter you feel, the easier it feels.

04:15 - It can vary because I don't like having

04:18 the same exact thing all the time.

04:21 And sometimes nerves can get the best of you.

04:23 So what you're used to eating

04:25 isn't necessarily what you want.

04:26 My favorite go-to though is some pasta

04:31 with a bunch of veggies and maybe a little bit of pesto

04:35 or some sort of sauce and tofu.

04:38 - I do like to have usually a kind of a pasta dish

04:42 just to make sure I have enough energy,

04:44 especially if it's like a morning game

04:45 and I don't want to eat too much before the game starts.

04:48 So I like to try to have like some type

04:50 of pasta dish beforehand.

04:51 I usually keep it pretty simple.

04:53 It's probably some variation of chicken and rice.

04:56 Usually we're traveling to international competitions.

04:59 So I try to not explore too much with the local cuisine

05:03 until after I compete.

05:04 - My favorite thing is to have my parents

05:06 make me spaghetti and meatballs

05:08 in their kitchen at their Airbnb.

05:09 (upbeat music)

05:12 (upbeat music)

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