The Olympic Games have just begun, and athletes worldwide already owe a huge thank you to their host nation, Italy.
Over a thousand years ago, the people of Italy embraced the dried wheat noodles brought by Arab traders, meticulously transforming them over centuries into the globally adored food we know as pasta.
Today, Olympic athletes are among pasta’s most enthusiastic consumers, relying on this carbohydrate-rich staple to power their performance. Even with evolving nutrition science, pasta remains as essential in sports as spandex, as vital to competitors as any energy drink.
So, it’s no surprise that the prospect of ‘carbo-loading’ this month at the Winter Games, right in pasta’s spiritual homeland, has many Olympians’ mouths watering.
“I’m a pasta girl, so I’m hyped,” shared Mystique Ro, 31, an American skeleton racer. “Spaghetti is my go-to. Then there’s gnocchi. I’m also a fettuccine person.”
Imagine the joy: a lightning-fast metabolism paired with a job that mandates eating plate after plate of delicious fettuccine.
At these Olympics, an astounding 600 kilograms (roughly 1,300 pounds) of pasta will be served daily across the three cafeterias in the athletes’ villages, according to Elisabetta Salvadori, the head of food and beverage for the Italian Olympic organizing committee.
The International Olympic Committee has even debuted a unique pasta shape inspired by the Olympic rings. (Bad news for foodies: the I.O.C. confirmed it’s a “limited-edition product not available for sale.”)
Local restaurants are also embracing the carbohydrate connection. Miscusi, in central Milan, created a special pasta dish for the Games—a creamy gnocchi featuring mushrooms, kale, and walnuts—along with a playful motto: “Eat pasta, ski fasta!”
Greatest Of All Time Pastas
Just ask some Olympians about their all-time favorite pastas, and watch their faces light up.
Alex Hall, 27, a gold medalist for the United States in slopestyle skiing four years ago, is one such enthusiast. He relies on pasta for demanding mountain training sessions, sometimes even having it for breakfast. For him, tortellini and farfalle are the GOAT pastas.
“Cook ’em quick,” said Hall, whose mother hails from Bologna, Italy. “Keep ’em al dente.”
Decades ago, elite athletes focused on consuming large quantities of protein, like a huge steak, just before competition. This shifted in the 1960s when Swedish scientists discovered the incredible efficiency of carbohydrates as a fuel source.
Thus, ‘carbo-loading’ was born, and pasta quickly became a global sports staple.
Tennis legend Roger Federer consistently ate pasta with a light tomato sauce two hours before nearly every match of his career. The Boston Marathon traditionally hosted a pre-race pasta dinner at City Hall, and the New York City Marathon held one for years at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
This month, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hayward, Wisconsin, will continue its tradition, started in 1982, of hosting an annual “spaghetti feed” for participants in the American Birkebeiner, North America’s largest cross-country skiing race.
“People come back for seconds and thirds,” said Mary Roles, 74, a volunteer who helped cook 95 pounds of dry pasta for 468 people last year. “Everybody leaves happy.”
Pre-race pasta has even become a comedic trope: remember Michael Scott in an episode of NBC’s “The Office,” unwisely devouring a takeout container of fettuccine Alfredo before a five-kilometer charity run?
For today’s elite athletes, the aggressive carbo-loading of yesteryear has evolved into a more precise, strategic approach, which Hunter Baum, a dietitian for the U.S. ski and snowboard team, calls “carbo focusing.”
“Now, it’s more based on evidence, practice and research: How do we target and time it better and more strategically?” Mr. Baum explained.
Disappointed Chefs
As athletes pour into northern Italy, Olympic organizers have adopted a “food-as-fuel” philosophy for the dining facilities. This meant facing the reality that many top competitors prefer plain pasta with just a hint of sauce—a practice almost sacrilegious in a nation of passionate food lovers, akin to drinking a cappuccino in the afternoon.
“This is surprising, from an Italian point of view,” Ms. Salvadori admitted, trying to maintain diplomatic composure. She had the delicate task of delivering this news to local caterers in the athletes’ villages, who had hoped to flaunt their culinary prowess.
“They were a bit upset, to be honest,” she said.
Still, athletes can find traditional, richer preparations like lasagna, cacio e pepe, and various ravioli in the cafeterias. Risotto and polenta, quintessential dishes of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Games’ primary hubs, are also prominently featured.
Ultimately, pasta’s global appeal—and its popularity among athletes—lies in its incredible versatility.
“It’s like a canvas on which you can express your own culture, your own taste, your own preferences,” said Fabio Parasecoli, a professor of food studies at New York University. “For Italians, there are specific rules. But once the canvas is exported, it’s a free-for-all, in a way.”
It must be said, however, that not all recent Olympic pasta experiences have been universally appetizing.
Resi Stiegler, an American Alpine skier who competed at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, famously criticized the pasta served in the athletes’ village as “horrible.”
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, confessed to reporters at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro that he had forced down “a pound of spaghetti” as part of his post-pool recovery, despite his personal dislike for it.
“And I’m not a spaghetti fan,” he revealed. “I forced myself to eat it.”
An Olympic Test of Willpower
Of course, athletes have other delicious avenues for their carb intake. At the Summer Games in Paris two years prior, Kenyan competitors brought ugali, a dense cornmeal staple. The Irish arrived with crates of porridge.
“We eat a lot of pho,” noted Chris Plys, 38, an American curler.
But pasta reigns supreme.
Derek Parra, an American speedskater who earned two medals at the 2002 Games, fondly recalls a 1996 visit to Padua, Italy, for the Inline Speed Skating World Championships. The night before his first event, he savored some tortellini carbonara at a local restaurant.
“The next day, I won a gold medal,” he recounted with a laugh, “and so I went back every night.”
Jake Adicoff, 30, a Paralympic cross-country skier from the United States, remembers a childhood cooking class during a family vacation in Italy. They learned to make pasta e ceci, a chickpea stew, which he now prepares for his teammates using ditalini, a short, tubular pasta.
“It’s got plenty of vegetables, protein and carbs, and it’s pretty easy to make,” he said. “It’s a great winter dish.”
With all this mouthwatering starch readily available, some athlete gourmands might need to exercise serious willpower in Italy.
Jason Brown, an American figure skater, is such an Italian food connoisseur that he once rerouted a family trip to Greece to Rome for a full day of eating. His itinerary included a stop at Ristorante Pietro Valentini, whose truffle gnocchi, he declared, was “to die for.”
Brown, 31, intends to maintain discipline during these Games. During competition, he favors homemade smoothies prepared with a blender he carries in his luggage.
But once his events conclude, he said, chuckling, “I carbo-load like crazy.”