Sports dietitian assesses menu for Beijing Olympics
The performances of the world’s top athletes at next year’s Beijing Olympics could depend as much on the efforts of University of the Sunshine Coast Sports Dietitian Dr Fiona Pelly as anything else.
Dr Pelly is leading an international expert committee that is reviewing the menu for the 2008 Olympic Games and assessing the nutrition support services that will be available for athletes.
She said the Professionals in Nutrition for Exercise and Sport’s Olympic Food Service Working Committee would forward its recommendations about the menu to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“The IOC will pass on this report to the official caterers who we are hoping will implement our suggested changes,” said Dr Pelly, who recently became a Fellow of Sports Dietitians Australia in recognition of her outstanding contribution to sports nutrition education.
“Some of the nutrition issues that are of concern in Beijing are food safety, provision of a suitable performance menu for athletes and availability of a variety of menu choices to suit all cultural backgrounds.”
Dr Pelly, who did similar work before the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2006 Commonweath Games, will be one of more than 20 presenters at USC’s annual University Research Conference on Wednesday 21 November.
This conference will showcase and celebrate the research achievements of the University and promote the quality and impact of USC research to academic colleagues and the wider community.
Dr Pelly’s presentation on “Nutrition support for elite athletes: Lessons learnt from the 2006 Commonwealth Games”, will outline how a nutrition support service can help elite athletes make informed food selections at a critical time in their sporting careers.
“The aim of this study was to evaluate a comprehensive nutrition support service within the athletes’ village of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games,” she said.
“The nutrition services available included nutrition labelling of menu items, fact sheets, individual or group dietetic consultations and a request service to cater for athletes with special dietary requirements.
“Evaluation of the nutrition support service confirmed its beneficial role in supporting the needs of athletes at elite level competition but also highlighted areas which could be improved for future games.”
The conference is open to the public, but bookings are required by contacting Ashleigh Rees on 5459 4526 or emailing <researchconference@usc.edu.au>.