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.
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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)