After Hidilyn Diaz declared her pleasure to bask in milk tea, the Filipino gold medallist was promised a free provide of the drink. Collage: VICE / Images: (L) Vincenzo PINTO / AFP. (R) RODNAE Productions, Pexels
Is there something extra superb, extra soul-satisfying, than taking the primary chew of your favourite meal?
Being an athlete requires a great quantity of sacrifice. Many Olympians undertake strict meal plans and exhausting coaching schedules to attain their athletic targets, which naturally means giving up some scrumptious meals. It takes a variety of willpower to say no to dishes you’re keen on, however after seeing their exhausting work repay, Olympians are lastly in a position to deal with themselves to their most beloved eats.
Here are a number of the methods Tokyo 2020 athletes are blessing their style buds.
Hidilyn Diaz, Philippines
After snagging the Philippines its first ever Olympic gold medal, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz vlogged her first post-victory meal within the Olympic Village eating corridor: pizza, sushi, and a few udon.
“You’re in Japan so you must eat Japanese meals. So once we acquired to the Olympic Village, I ate sushi,” she instructed VICE. “I hoped to exit, however we didn’t have the prospect due to the strict protocols.”
Movement restrictions had been put in place to curb the unfold of COVID-19.
The 30-year-old competed within the ladies’s 55-kilogram class and lifted a complete of 224 kilograms, setting two Olympic information within the course of. Beyond the sporting realm, Diaz’s bodily prowess has gained significance in other important ways: It was additionally a symbolic victory for ladies throughout the Philippines and an oasis of excellent information amid the nation’s uphill battle in opposition to the pandemic.
After a protracted interval of weight-reduction plan main as much as the Olympics, Diaz instructed AFP in a post-competition interview that she would now be consuming to her coronary heart’s content material, together with candy treats like cheesecake and milk tea.
“I imply I’ve been sacrificing my meals, and that is the time to rejoice along with the people who find themselves behind me,” she mentioned. “So I’m actually grateful I can eat now.”
Diaz has been promised an entire yr’s provide of free milk tea, burgers, and chicken wings by meals chains within the Philippines in appreciation of her historic achievement.
Loh Kean Yew, Singapore
Singaporean badminton participant Loh Kean Yew hopes to develop into Singapore’s first Olympic medalist in badminton. And you’ll be able to’t name this a pipe dream—the 24-year-old shuttler has won matches in opposition to a powerful variety of prime gamers. In the 2019 Thailand Masters, he emerged victorious in opposition to one of many sport’s greatest names, Lin Dan, and was topped champion. He bowed out of the Olympics within the group play stage after an intense match in opposition to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.
Loh Kean Yew’s meal in quarantine. Photo: Loh Kean Yew
Loh is at the moment on a 14-day quarantine after touching down in Singapore. Naturally, his first meal got here within the type of a packed Asian affair—gravied rooster, veggies, and a few brown rice.
“It is nice to lastly be again to Singapore meals. It appears like residence,” he instructed VICE.
What he actually needs to eat, although, is a slab of steak.
“I’m wanting ahead to having a pleasant, sizzling, freshly cooked steak as soon as I’m out of this quarantine,” he mentioned. “Steak is a superb supply of protein for restoration and I eat [it] virtually as soon as each week every time I get to cook dinner at residence.”
Yang Qian, China
Chinese shooter Yang Qian received the primary gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics within the ladies’s 10-meter air rifle occasion. Three days later, she took residence one other gold medal for the 10-meter air rifle blended staff occasion along with her companion Yang Haoran.
At a press convention after successful her second medal, the bright-eyed 21-year-old shared that she was wanting ahead to feasting on some braised prawns ready by her mom again residence. Braised prawns, a standard home made dish in Asian cuisines, are sometimes ready by stewing fried prawns in a flavorful sauce.
“I typically like the whole lot cooked by my mother. After all, it’s cooked by my mom—it has the style of residence,” Yang told reporters on the press convention.
As Yang’s seafood craving gained protection in Chinese information shops and social media discussions, her mom assured that braised prawns will most definitely be on the menu when Yang returns to her hometown Ningbo City. In a mother-daughter video call throughout Yang’s interview with state media outlet Xinhua News Agency, Yang’s mom lovingly knowledgeable her: “Mommy has braised prawns prepared for you.”
However, it seems like Yang must wait at the very least a couple of extra days earlier than she will get to get pleasure from her mom’s cooking. Her Weibo post on July 29 revealed that she’s at the moment quarantining in Beijing.
Muhammed Anas Yahiya, India
As a teen, Muhammed Anas Yahiya was impressed and inspired by Usain Bolt’s lightning velocity on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Today, the 26-year-old holds India’s nationwide document for the 400-meter dash, which he set on the 2019 Czech Athletics Championships. For Tokyo 2020, he’s taking half within the males’s 4 x 400 meters relay.
Yahiya instructed VICE that the very first thing he’s going to do after the Olympics is to reunite along with his household.
“I’ve been away from my household for greater than a yr now and so I want to spend a while with my household earlier than my coaching schedule begins once more,” he mentioned.
As for his post-games celebratory deal with, Yahiya is wanting ahead to having fun with a critical quantity of burgers earlier than getting again into the groove of athletic coaching.
“I’ll most likely eat burgers for all my meals earlier than my food regimen and coaching begins,” he mentioned.
Aori Nishimura, Japan
In Japan, the place skateboarding is seen because the pastime of rebellious teenagers, star skaters like Aori Nishimura are main the cost to destigmatize the game.
Having began skateboarding on the tender age of seven, the Tokyo-born Nishimura has been described as a “prodigy” and a “rising star” within the scene. At age 15, she grew to become the primary Japanese individual to win gold on the ladies’s skateboarding road on the 2017 X Games. She is at the moment ranked world No. 3 in road skateboarding.
This yr, the 20-year-old represented Japan on the Olympics and got here in eighth. This is the primary time skateboarding was included within the Olympics. The road class that Nishimura joined sees a panel of judges evaluating methods carried out by skaters over constructions like steps, ramps, and railings—all options present in city landscapes.
When requested about her post-competition meals, she instructed VICE that she doesn’t actually have a go-to dish.
“But that being mentioned, I eat my mom’s home made karaage (Japanese fried rooster) so much after competing,” she mentioned.
A bowl of rice and karaage. Photo: Pixabay
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, India
India’s first medal on the Tokyo Olympics was received by weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who bagged the silver within the ladies’s 49-kilogram class after efficiently lifting a complete of 202 kilograms. This was additionally India’s first-ever Olympic silver medal in weightlifting.
After the 26-year-old declared her want to eat pizza in a TV interview, she was greeted with a pizza get together in India, the place she loved a slice alongside regulation minister Kiren Rijiju.
In help of her ardour for pizza, Domino’s promised her a lifetime supply of their pies.
Chanu’s post-Olympics homecoming was additionally a long-awaited reunion along with her household in Manipur, Northeastern India, whom she mentioned she hadn’t seen for two years. In a recent tweet, the athlete was pictured in her household residence consuming ghar ka khana, typical Indian home made meals like lentil soup, chapatis, and seasoned greens.
Chen Lijun, China
During the 2016 Rio Olympics, weightlifter Chen Lijun was forced to withdraw as a result of leg cramps. Five years later, he returned to assert the gold medal within the males’s 67-kilogram class, lifting a complete of 332 kilograms and breaking two Olympic information.
In a heartfelt social media post, Chen thanked his supporters and revealed his final meals craving now that he not has to stay to his Olympic routine: hotpot.
Boiling hotpot. Photo: Leacky Chen, Pixabay
“As somebody who controls his food regimen all year long, proper now I actually need to return to China and have a hearty hotpot feast,” the 28-year-old wrote.
Anthony Esguerra and Shamani Joshi contributed to the reporting of the story.
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