Athletes lovin' McDonald's: Olympic Village

[shootingstar]

Well, the inside story was from a friend who is volunteering there at Olympic Athletes' Village, is that there were initially enough Olympic athletes who enjoyed the free McDonald's food enough, that one day it shut down one section of other non-McDonald's food offerings.

Other types of (healthier) food for them there, is free.
There are food weigh scales right there in the common eating areas for the athletes to weight their food and calculate, etc.

Of course, within their suites there are some basic cooking facilities.

[Blueberry]

And here I had been watching the McDonald's commercials touting how you can "eat like an athlete" and thinking that there's no way they would actually be indulging in McDonalds....

[OakLeaf]

Shootingstar, did your friend say what kind of food it actually was? I'm guessing it's not what you could buy at a McDonald's. Much like the "Huffy" track bikes of the '80s.

[shootingstar]

Friend actually was only allowed to walk through the common eating area at the Village. Not surprising, given his role as a volunteer computer tech. person.

However here's an article on a meal that one of the Olympic snowboarder competitors had at the Mcdonald's outlet, Village location (apparently 2 of them in the Village)

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/B...574/story.html While getting off track is understandable, would think the amount of work and sacrifice by an Olympic athlete might help discipline a person abit more? We're all human, I guess.

More on McDonald's role at the 2010 Village and their justification:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/M...270/story.html

[SadieKate]

I may be way off, but I'll make the wildazz guess that they're serving items from their international menus. It isn't all gigantic cheeseburgers. Even the US menu has salads and lowfat dressing.

[shootingstar]

While I'm not familiar with McDonald's international menus, it's pretty hard to believe that to even eat off of the international menu alot at McDonald's, would be a good thing for anyone (unless their home cooking was truly crappy). Probably alot more salt, etc. added and deep fried whatever, even if lightly deep fried.

I know, I'm a cynic.

As for the snowboarder who doesn't have a "diet" at this time, maybe he means eating by instinct....which can be easily said by many early 20's athletes and ordinary folk.

(Like him in that age bracket, I used to think I could eat alot of anything and eat way past 8:00 pm. And this was when I was alot more sedentary and had not yet returned to cycling.)

[GLC1968]

Yeah - most of the people I knew in college at that way and most were athletes without weight problems. At 40? No way...at 22? Eh.

They are young, burning thousands of calories a day...a bad meal here or there isn't going to kill them. If they lived off McD's, then yeah, I'd wonder, but I seriously doubt that any of them are doing that.

[SadieKate]

Well, except for some of the bobsled pilots . . .

[OakLeaf]

Ya - I know nothing, so I'm really just running my mouth but I get the feeling that boardsporters right now are where motorcycle racers were 30-40 years ago. Getting by on technique, and figuring that doing a very physical sport is fitness enough. It wasn't really until the late 1990's or 2000's that motorcycle racers started training in any serious way, at least to ever talk about it in public. Are snowboarders and skateboarders the same?

[GLC1968]

Well, except for some of the bobsled pilots . . .

True!


Wasn't there a big story two years ago about Michael Phelps' diet? Like eating a bunch of Big Macs in one sitting or something? At least the winter athletes mostly get to cover up any impending pudgyness!

[SadieKate]

I think the bobsled pilots give the rest of us hope.

[snowroo]

I wonder how long it will take for the snowboard cross riders to start wearing lycra....

[katluvr]

I think the bobsled pilots give the rest of us hope.

OMG--I think I now just which pilot you are referring to! He was not a pretty sight in lycra!