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What Do the Olympic Gymnasts Eat?

Mon Jun 28,12:27 PM ET
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By EDDIE PELLS, AP Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. - With rock-hard biceps and abs that would make a
bodybuilder jealous, Stephen McCain (news - web sites) doesn't need to
lose weight. Yet count him as a devotee of the increasingly popular
low-carbohydrate diet.

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A 2000 U.S. Olympian trying to make it back to the Games this year,
McCain started doing the high-protein, low-carb thing well before it
became the biggest diet fad in the country.

"I used to think it was all about carbs, carbs, carbs to get the
energy," he said. "But over time, I realized I performed better when I
kept that stuff in check."

That's because gymnastics, unlike swimming or long-distance running,
is considered an "anaerobic" sport, one in which short, intense bursts
of power are much more important than endurance.

"Over the span of a three-hour workout, we're probably only up on the
equipment for 15 minutes," McCain said. The longest routine for a man
or woman is the floor exercise, which lasts between 60 and 90
seconds.

Thus, having lots of complex sugars stored up ? the kind produced by
carbohydrates ? does not help a gymnast that much. Those energy spurts
are best provided by a diet high in protein. Most gymnasts try to get
between 60 percent and 70 percent of their calories from proteins
(like meats and cheeses), the rest from carbs (like whole-grain pasta,
fruits, vegetables) and fats (like oils from peanuts). And, as has
been proven by all the Atkins, South Beach and Zone diets so popular
these days, high-protein regimens help gymnasts keep their weight
down.

The weight issue can be a touchy subject in gymnastics, especially on
the women's side. Eating disorders have long been common in a sport in
which young girls are urged to stay lean, yet keep the muscle that
allows them to explode and do such amazing tricks on the floor, uneven
bars and beam.

But done correctly, diets can produce gymnasts like Courtney McCool,
Tabitha Yim or national co-champion Courtney Kupets (news - web
sites), all fit, trim young women who hardly seem to fit some of the
worst stereotypes of the sport.

They eat several times a day, all in small quantities: egg whites for
breakfast, a small piece of chicken for lunch, small snacks of cheese
and vegetables in between meals and maybe some fish and fruit for
dinner.

Is it what most 16-year-old girls would be eating? Probably not, but
these young women are in fabulous shape. And with the desire to be a
world-class gymnast come sacrifices, the likes of which all these
athletes know they must make when they get into the sport.

"It's just something you have to deal with," McCool said. "You have to
be not just physically tough, but mentally tough."

No sport has been watched more closely ? or criticized ? for its
weight issues than gymnastics. Christy Henrich, a member of the 1989
U.S. world championship team, died at age 22 in 1994 after long
battles with anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Stories abound of former
American team coordinator Bela Karolyi hectoring his young gymnasts
for being out of shape and fat.

Just as revealing are myriad pictures of 14-year-old girls who look no
older than 8 or 9.

"You see things that are inappropriate that shouldn't be done,"
longtime gymnastics coach Steve Rybacki said. "The key is finding the
right balance."

Steve, who coaches alongside his wife, Beth, a former gymnast herself,
said he has learned over the years that weight issues with female
gymnasts are best discussed woman-to-woman.

"Getting that kind of feedback from a guy can be a real negative
thing," Rybacki said.

On the women's side of the sport, diets can be more easily monitored
simply because female gymnasts at the Olympic level are usually
between ages 15 and 19 ? in other words, they still live at home.

Once a month, they go to training camps held at a Texas ranch owned by
Karolyi and his wife, Martha, who is the current national team
coordinator. Their daughter, Andrea, is a certified nutritionist who
does the food service at the camps.

The menu for lunch at one recent training camp was a salad bar, pork
loin, vegetables, potatoes and fruit.

"My mom and I work on the menus," Andrea Karolyi said. "She's very
involved in the nutrition. She wants to make sure everything is
well-balanced."

The biggest problem, Rybacki said, is finding enough kinds of food to
keep teenage girls ? in large part, a notoriously picky bunch of
eaters anyway ? happy.

"You're taking a menu that's already limited because there aren't a
lot of foods they like," Rybacki said, "and then you're cutting it
down even further. That's the challenge."

Most of the men, meanwhile, are in their 20s, and don't get as much
help.

"I'm 30 years old, so I'm going to do what I'm going to do," McCain
said. "But I think I've finally got a real good grip on what's right."

Many see irony in the fact that one of America's best female gymnasts,
Carly Patterson (news - web sites), is being featured on the side of
McDonald's bags this summer as part of the fast-food chain's Olympics
promotions.

Rybacki said, however, that a little bit of off-the-diet eating is
allowed, "as long as it's looked at as a reward, something special,
and not part of the regular routine."

McCool certainly knows.

"I don't like hamburgers," she said. "I eat a lot of chicken. Some
steak. Mostly just chicken ... or Taco Bell."