South Sudan’s Athletes in Japan say Japanese foods lack vital nutrients
The South Sudanese athletes who are currently in Japan preparing for the 2020 Olympics say they are ready to compete in the games in July but complain about Japanese foods.
They say some of the foods lack important food nutrients suitable for athletes. The team captain says all the team needs now is supplements recommended for athletes by the Anti Dopping and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The athletes competed in some Japanese domestic tournaments last weekend as part of their preparations for the Tokyo 2020 where Lucia William broke her on record in the 200m.
Abaraham Majuk, captain of the South Sudanese athletics team who is competing in the 1500m races, says COVID-19 has limited athletes from participating in many trial games since most have been suspended. But to improve their performance in the Olympics, Majuk says all they need now is the recommended food supplements.
“Right now, we’ve a very good track that we train on, the only thing missing is some supplements that athletes normally have.”
“Normally there’re food supplements athletes take to supplement their diet and their training. There Are some supplements even the Anti-Doping and IAAF recommend athletes to have but that is lacking for us apart from the food we have on table.” Majuk told The Insider.
Majuk says the food his team eats lacks important nutrients. He says it’s important that the athletes are provided with these nutrients to supplement whatever their bodies lack.
“When you get those then the food value that you miss in your body is already replaced. Maybe you don’t eat most of the food rich in calcium or protein then when you have a protein supplement, it supplements that food value you missed or when it’s calcium or iron that you lack, it’s already there.” He added.
17-year-old Lucia William, the only female athlete representing South Sudan in the summer Olympics who is competing in the 100m and 200m races, says she has been struggling to adapt to the Japanese food since her team arrived in Japan late 2019. She says she has since adapted to the Japanese weather but still faces difficulty adapting to the local foods.
She says sometimes she goes without eating. The sprinter says the food she’s getting misses a lot of supplements necessary for athletes’ stamina.
“As an athlete you don’t need to eat those kinds of food, you need to eat the kind of food that you can get benefit like protein especially sprinters. Sprinters need to eat a lot of food so that you can get the power to run so fast.” William emphasized.
According to a 2019 nutrition for athletes guide issued by the International Association of Athletes Federation and published on the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, the usefulness of high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets is limited to selected individuals, events or scenarios in distance events. The report says vegetarian diets can theoretically support athletes’ demands, but special attention and good planning are required to ensure adequate intake of energy and specific nutrients that are less abundant or less well absorbed from plant sources, for example iron.
It also says evidence that carbohydrates consumed during exercise can provide an additional benefit via the brain and nervous system. Carbohydrates can stimulate areas of the brain that control pacing and reward systems via communication with receptors in the mouth and gut.
The South Sudanese athletes are being hosted at the Japanese town of Maibaci. They were taken under the Japanese goodwill project, which roots for these athletes to train and prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Joseph Rensio Tobia, the team’s coach, says if they were provided with some money, it would help meet some of the athletes’ needs.
“The Japanese, are not giving us any service like money. No! We are just staying like that since we came here. Even my players sometimes need some things for sport and training but I don’t have the ability to help them because we’re very empty since we came here.”
William says the lack of money does not distract her from training for the Olympics. She says being the only female on the team representing South Sudan means she is shouldering a lot of responsibilities
“I’m so proud to represent my beloved country South Sudan and also being the only woman among the team, I’ve never competed for my home town or state but always for other states to show my love for them and they’re all equal. My message to the girls, especially young athletes, I want them to focus on their training. I know we’ve a lot of challenges there, but I just want them to believe in themselves and achieve their goals. We have a lot of chances.”
William says young girls have a lot of opportunities but they can only exploit such opportunities if parents can allow their daughters to participate in sports.
“In South Sudan there’re a lot of girls who have hope to join sports but their parents don’t want their children to participate or to do any other sport. My message to our parents is; if your child wants to do any sports, please allow them to do whatever they want to do.”
The 2021 Olympic games begin on July 23rd and end on August 8th 2021.
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