FEEDING THE ATHLETE

When foreign food carries a potential risk of a positive drug test, athletes have to be careful about what they eat in the host country.

Trusting food in foreign countries is a luxury Olympic athletes can’t always afford, especially right before competition. The U.S. elected to bring its own food to the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to concerns about food safety after chicken tested beforehand came back containing enough steroids to trigger positive tests for anyone eating it. Team USA does not have the same concerns at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, as officials are guaranteeing that the food at the Olympic village is 100 percent steroid-free, according to the AP.

In mainstream American sports, the idea that an athlete could test positive for steroids due to a compromised steak is more or less a foreign concept. The FDA ensures that meat in the U.S. doesn’t contain high enough levels of any substance that could trigger a positive drug test.

Why the Olympics has to promise food that is 100% steroid-free:

But red meat can be especially problematic for athletes who regularly travel outside the states for competition, where laws regulating meat production can be less strict or less enforced.

"In the village, the caterers for the Olympics have an awful lot of experience and they will be very, very careful about where they source the food from. So an athlete eating in the Olympic village should have confidence that they're safe." — Ronald Maughan

At the 2011 FIFA under-17 world cup in Mexico, an astounding 109 of 208 athletes tested positive for clenbuterol, a performance-enhancing substance that helps quickly grow muscle.

While illegal in Mexico, farmers were still using clenbuterol to add muscle to their calves. A crackdown in 2015 busted 58 of 200 slaughterhouses for use of the drug.

"People don't know how complex it is to put out safe food. We know that this is a very sensitive subject that could influence a result or an athlete's medal." — Marcello Cordiero to the AP

Mexico’s team went on a meatless diet consisting of fish and vegetables before that 2011 tournament and all of their athletes tested negative, so the source of the clenbuterol was quickly found to be tainted meat. Before the 2008 games, China went so far as to ban its athletes from eating meat prepared by outside chefs due to fear that they might test positive for clenbuterol.

“Especially in developing countries in the world, you have to be mindful of things like beef and red meat, about concerns of hormone use, specifically Clenbuterol,” says Jennifer Sygo, a sports nutritionist who works with Canada’s track and field team. Ronald Maughan, a professor emeritus at Loughborough University in England and chair of the IOC medical commission’s sports nutrition group, has worked with FIFA, FA and various other British athletic groups and is an expert on athletes’ dietary needs.

“In the village, the caterers for the Olympics have an awful lot of experience and they will be very, very careful about where they source the food from,” says Maughan. “So an athlete eating in the Olympic village should have confidence that they’re safe.”


Guaranteeing food safety is no joke.

To make sure the food in the village won’t contain banned substances, Rio officials have to make sure the farms producing it are abiding by the proper guidelines, especially when it comes to beef.

“You make sure you know which farm it came from. You vet that farm to make sure that the calves they’re using are not treated with steroids, you take samples of the meat and the same way you test athletes, you test food,” Maughan says. “And once you’re confident in your supplier, you then can use that supplier to act as a source of the ingredients for the food in the village.”

“You make sure you know which farm it came from. You vet that farm to make sure that the calves they’re using are not treated with steroids, you take samples of the meat and the same way you test athletes, you test food.” — Ronald Maughan

While many things in Rio have gone wrong leading up to the Olympics (body parts washing up on shore, athletes’ dormitories not passing basic tests), nothing has happened to make people question food safety.

Marcello Cordeiro, Rio’s Director of Food and Beverages, is in charge of guaranteeing food safety at the games. "To assure that our ingredients are free of steroids and other kinds of chemicals, we are making sure our suppliers have all the certificates that are demanded by our national food and drug agency," Cordeiro told The AP. "People don't know how complex it is to put out safe food. We know that this is a very sensitive subject that could influence a result or an athlete's medal."


Here’s why food safety is such a big deal:

The amount of clenbuterol ingested when eating a contaminated steak isn’t enough to enhance an athlete’s performance, but it could be enough to trigger a positive drug test.

“Probably one steak could do it, but I do not think anyone knows enough to be absolutely sure,” Maughan says.

Someone who ingests tainted meat could test similar to an athlete who took a banned substance months earlier. The athlete who had mistakenly ingested the banned substance would have trace elements of the drug in his or her system, but that’s all it takes.

"The amount you need to fail a drug test for steroids is so vanishingly small, it's unbelievable," — Ronald Maughan.

“The amount you need to fail a drug test for steroids is so vanishingly small, it’s unbelievable,” Maughan says.

Players are discouraged to eat outside of the Olympic village, at least until they are done competing.

Sygo tells her athletes to pack enough food to last them the full trip from Canada to Rio so they don’t risk any contamination until they get to the safe haven that is the Olympic village. She doesn’t want them eating in airports or restaurants along the way, for fear of contamination.

Per Rio’s official guidelines, athletes aren’t even allowed to bring outside food into the village.

"If an athlete brings something in from outside and eats it the dining hall and gets sick, then it can be blamed on the village food," Cordiero told the AP. "But in the end we know that athletes can go anywhere and buy a hot dog and possibly get it inside."

"If an athlete brings something in from outside and eats it the dining hall and gets sick, then it can be blamed on the village food." — Marcello Cordiero to the AP.

“Food safety is a major concern,” says Sharon Madigan, a nutritionist who consulted with the Irish Olympic team prior to the Games. “This is not the time to do things differently. I know there are a lot of food options but athletes should stick with the food that they know best. All of their food intake should come from the village.”

Once the games are done, though, players are free to eat where they like.

“When I was in Beijing I had some amazing authentic chinese food at multiple restaurants, and really appreciate the food from that culture, and of course London is kind of the epicenter of food and wine and English tea, so I had some fun exploring there,” says American shooter Corey Cogdell.

Players have claimed in the past that meat caused failed drug tests, but we can’t know for sure.

Tour de France-winning cyclist Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol after winning the 2010 Tour and was handed a two-year ban from the sport. Contador protested the ban, saying his positive test result was from a steak.

Contador seems to have a real case, but it’s hard for those policing PED use to make be certain of anything.

“Athletes have had positive doping infractions and claimed that they’ve been related to the meat that they ate. So we don’t know if that is for sure, but it adds another variable that athletes don’t need to have,” Sygo said. “We don’t know if it has caused doping infractions, but if we can avoid exposing ourselves to risks, then we’ll do that.”