Chinese Food the Key to One Athlete’s Olympic Success

It’s always interesting to know how athletes prepare for the Olympics. In 2008, we learned that U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps consumed 12,000 calories per day, while U.S. men’s basketball star Kobe Bryant said he shed 16 pounds for this year’s Olympics.

Zhiwen He, a representative for Spain in the Olympic table tennis tournament, revealed that he prepared for his matches by eating Chinese food and sleeping.

This news makes me want to get some Panda Express for breakfast, take a nap, run to the local rec center and see what happens.

He, or “Juanito” as the Spanish like to call him, credits his ability to stay in the game to his rest and diet of Chinese food.

He, 50, was born in China and is now a citizen of Spain. He has been playing table tennis since 1971 and although he has admitted to slowing down a bit over the years, it looks like with the help of some Mandarin chicken, He still has enough left in the tank to be an Olympian.

With such a simple key to success, you’d think it’d be easy to start-up a career in table tennis and win an Olympic medal, but beware that He lost in the third round of the tournament. So, maybe we should wait it out and see what the gold medalist’s eating habits are. Although, the favorite to win it all is Jike Zhang of China, so it’s likely his regimen is similar.

[Thx Huff Post]