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Athletes fill up for Beijing

Road to Olympic podium begins at fine-tuned cafeteria

By Jay Dedrick, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 29, 2008 at 3:41 p.m.

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A Chinese dragon hangs above the cafeteria at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, which serves 350 athletes and others at each meal.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

A Chinese dragon hangs above the cafeteria at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, which serves 350 athletes and others at each meal.

Speed skater Joey Mantia, 22, flexes his muscles in the cafeteria. Over the past 18 months, the training center implemented a performance-based menu of balanced, nutritionally sound foods.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Speed skater Joey Mantia, 22, flexes his muscles in the cafeteria. Over the past 18 months, the training center implemented a performance-based menu of balanced, nutritionally sound foods.

Smothered burritos are among the favorites at the training center, along with fajitas and taco salad.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Smothered burritos are among the favorites at the training center, along with fajitas and taco salad.

A banana octopus garnish made by pantry specialist Barbara Williams.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

A banana octopus garnish made by pantry specialist Barbara Williams.

Cyclist Michael Blatchford, 22, stops at the cafeteria's drink station.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Cyclist Michael Blatchford, 22, stops at the cafeteria's drink station.

Pantry specialist Barbara Williams smells a tulip she made out of a green onion and a carrot. "Garnishes make athletes happier and everything more attractive," she says.

Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Pantry specialist Barbara Williams smells a tulip she made out of a green onion and a carrot. "Garnishes make athletes happier and everything more attractive," she says.

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Years of going in circles have paid off for Michael Blatchford. Because he makes those revolutions at 45 mph, he's being rewarded with a round trip to the other side of the globe. His destination: Beijing, where the track cyclist will compete for medals at the Olympic Games.

He won't go on an empty stomach.

Like the other 200 athlete residents of the U.S. Olympic Training Center, the 22-year-old fills his plate daily at the campus cafeteria. It's at the heart of the complex, which houses the headquarters for U.S. Olympic Committee administration and Olympic Training Center programs.

Athletes - visitors and dorm residents - as well as their coaches and trainers, administrators and young people enrolled in sports camps all are welcome to refuel here. Lithe, petite gymnasts tread lightly toward the salad bar while hulking judo masters make repeat trips through the buffet line to collect smothered burritos, cheese-steak sandwiches and slices of mocha fudge torte.

"The day had better start and end with food or I'm in a world of hurt," Blatchford says. "You've got to put the right fuel in your tank. And one of the biggest reasons I live here is that I don't have the energy or time to make three or four meals a day for myself."

At lunchtime on a Thursday this month, between stints training at the nearby Velodrome, he tops two burritos with big scoops of guacamole and sour cream, adds sides of Mexican rice and honeydew melon and washes it down with a tall glass of Powerade.

"I don't count calories," he says. "I just eat - whenever, wherever, as much as I can. In the cafeteria line, what looks good? I eat that. If I'm still hungry, I get some more. Friends who are weight-cutting - I can't eat with them. They don't want to see a plate like mine."

As decadent as that plate might seem, plenty of health-minded attention was paid to all those foods before they were prepared and served. It begins with Jacque Hamilton, the executive chef responsible for the menu at Colorado Springs and at Olympic training centers in Chula Vista, Calif., and Lake Placid, N.Y.

"We believe food is going to give you the edge you need to get up to the podium," Hamilton says.

She began sharpening that edge about 18 months ago, when she and her staff of 32 implemented a performance-based menu, which required radical changes in the kitchen. The thinking: Though many athletes may consume high-caloric diets, they're better off if those calories come from balanced, nutritionally sound fare.

Lean meats and fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants had been longtime staples. Meals also included indulgences that calorie-burning athletes presumably could afford.

"In the past," Hamilton says, "if you liked fried food, you got it."

Not anymore. About 1,500 recipes underwent revision. Cream and butter were exorcised from every dish. Fryers were banned.

Hot wings, one of the most popular items, were spared, but they're now baked, not fried. Hamilton added a TurboChef oven to the kitchen to give potato wedges - the stand-in for french fries - a satisfyingly crisp crunch. Another comfort-food survivor: mac 'n' cheese.

"We used to make it with heavy cream," she says. "Now we use a low-fat white sauce and skim milk. We've kept the flavor there."

That wasn't always possible. Some dishes - say, New York cheesecake - couldn't be recast in suitably healthy versions. They're gone. All offerings now meet the standard of no more than 30 percent of calories from fat, with less than 10 percent of the fat saturated, and no trans fat.

Psychology plays a role, too. Desserts - modest slices of key lime pie, bits of bread pudding - are served on small plates so portions look bigger. While nutrition details are discreetly posted along the buffet line, Hamilton doesn't draw attention to the finessing of each recipe.

"We try to serve the Barilla Plus pasta - it's made with whole grain and has omega-3 acids. If it's served plain, they don't want it, because it's the 'wrong' color. But if it's in a Buffalo chicken pasta dish, they have no clue," she says. Another deceptive winner: taco meat made from Gardenburgers.

Staff dietitian Adam Korzun consults with Hamilton in developing the menus and works with Olympic food sponsors to ensure that the products they supply fit the center's guidelines.

"My role is to link performance services with food services," Korzun says. "We counsel the athletes on what fuel they want to choose. A triathlete, who's exercising aerobically, will eat more carbs than a bobsled athlete, whose work is more about strength, more anaerobic."

Still, Korzun understands that compromise is sometimes necessary.

"Food is emotion. It's fun," Korzun says. "One of the most popular things here is a Philly cheese steak. To make it healthier, we do a chicken cheese steak."

Pad thai is a big hit on the grill line, where hot sandwiches and more are made to order. Grilled chicken breast is a training-table must, thanks to its lean, high-protein profile. This day, it's served Santa Fe-style, topped with diced tomatoes.

Travis Cooper, 20, a resident weight-lifter, wraps his grilled chicken in a tortilla with beans, guacamole and sour cream. At 5-foot-5, 187 pounds, he eats four meals and a snack daily at the cafeteria. While training, he figures he consumes 4,000 calories a day. During competition, when he burns fewer calories and can't let his weight fluctuate, he takes it down to 2,500 calories.

"I do pay attention to what I eat, but not if I'm not preparing for a competition," he says between bites. "Right now, I'm just making myself happy."

Hearing that makes Hamilton happy.

"We are very service-oriented," she says. "This is an extension of their home, and we want them to be happy."

Having cleaned his plate, Blatchford, headed to his first Olympics, hugs the grill chef on his way back to training.

"Without them, I'd be skinny, starving and out of a job," he says.

One thing would make him happier, though: removing New York cheesecake from the cafeteria's list of forbidden foods.

"Cheesecake is my secret training weapon," he says, smiling. "It makes me go faster."

Setting a Western table at the Games

In Beijing, for the first time at an Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic Training Center will provide a full slate of training-table meals to American athletes.

Food-service staffers from Colorado Springs have traveled to past games to serve small tastes of home, but for the Games beginning Aug. 8, they'll offer meals from morning to night.

"We're going to serve a Western menu there," says executive chef Jacque Hamilton, a 20-year veteran of the center's cafeteria. "We could never make Chinese food better than the Chinese.

"But more important, athletes are creatures of habit. If they won a race after eating a chicken sandwich, they're going to make sure they have a chicken sandwich before their next race. That's why we went with the Western menu."

About 60 resident athletes at the training center will make the trek to Beijing to compete, the most ever from the Springs campus to attend an Olympics.

"I tried to pick out their favorites - Mexican food like burritos, fajitas, taco salad. We're making tamales there," she says. "We'll do a carving station, so it'll be a little more high-end than what we do here."

She's also prepared to cope with the occasional culture gap when teaming with local caterers and food suppliers.

"In Athens in 2004, we were going to do lasagna, but they didn't have ricotta in Greece. So we made it with feta. And they liked it," she says. "We made Mexican food there. When we checked our suppliers, they had about three packages of tortillas. I told them we needed more like 300 packages.

"It's going to be an adventure."

Here's a sample menu Hamilton plans to serve at the High Performance Training Center in Beijing.

BREAKFAST

* Oatmeal

* Whole-Wheat Pancakes With Grilled Peaches

* Honey-Glazed Country Ham

* Sweet Potato Hash Browns

LUNCH

* Baked Fish With Herbs in Parchment

* Jerk Chicken

* Smokehouse Baked Beans

* Vegetable Stew

* Caramelized Green Beans

* Roasted Barley Pilaf

* Caesar Salad

* Tortilla Soup

DINNER

* Mixed Grill to include: Baby Lamb Chops, Petit Filet Mignon, Chicken Sausage

* Soy and Ginger Salmon

* Sauteed Summer Greens

* Roasted New Potatoes

* Asparagus Vinaigrette

* Four-Cheese Ravioli With Marinara Sauce

* Baja Chicken Salad

* Tomato Bisque

* Make what the athletes will eat in Beijing - Recipes12