Sports Nutritionist Q & A with Rónán Doherty, the lead nutritionist for Irish Sailing
Interview by Karen Keane, PhD
PINES communications committee member Karen Keane caught up with Rónán Doherty, the lead nutritionist for Irish Sailing ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Check out their conversation below.
How are you feeling about the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics?
I’m thrilled about the games, it’s always an exciting and busy time when athletes are preparing for major championships. The Olympic and Paralympic games take place between the 26th of July and the 8th of September which coincides with the highest risk for seasonal heatwaves and air pollution peaks in France. I’m the lead Performance Nutritionist for Irish Sailing and three boats are currently preparing for the games. The Sailing event is taking place in Marseilles from 28th of July to 8th of August. I’m also working as part of the Sport Ireland Institute’s sleep service, and we are currently focused on sleep education and strategies for the games for both athletes and support staff.
How does an athlete’s nutritional regimen differ in preparation for the Olympics compared to regular training and competition?
Each athlete’s nutrition plan will be tailored to both their competition schedule and the training and competition ‘load’ they are undertaking. There will not be any major changes from what they would do at other major competitions. An additional aspect of the Olympic environment that will have to be planned for however, is the food availability i.e. athlete’s accommodation/village. While food will be available at certain times at the sailing venue, it is limited so we are working on solutions to that and finding a balance between the athlete’s feeding themselves and using the catered options. Sailors can be on the water for hours at a time, so our athletes need to be organised and bring food options on the water for competition.
What is the focus of your athletes from a nutrition perspective now?
The focus now is keeping our athletes healthy while they are training in preparation for the games. From my own perspective three key elements in that process are:
- carbohydrate availability – maintain appropriate levels of carbohydrate intake relative to training load is key in keeping athletes healthy.
- probiotic supplementation – our athletes travel a lot to train and compete. Probiotic supplementation may reduce the incidence and severity of upper respiratory tract symptoms.
- and sleep – inadequate sleep is a risk factor for illness, injury and can negatively impact performance. We encourage our athletes to understand what ‘good’ sleep is for them and develop strategies to promote good sleep.
Have there been any challenges you have faced or will face in the lead up to Paris 2024 with regards to nutrition or sleep?
The main challenge regarding nutrition is that the Sailing event is in Marseilles away from the rest of the games. While there will be food availability at the athlete village, we are currently working with athletes to plan their food over the course of the competition period.
Paris 2024 is aiming to be a sustainable event and the organisers have committed to, “halving its carbon footprint compared to previous Games and offsetting the emissions that cannot be avoided.” Part of this commitment involves no air-conditioning in the athlete village which will use a water-cooling system instead. A potential impact of this will be athletes having to sleep in hotter rooms. We are currently working on strategies to help athletes sleep in heat.
