Swimming - Olympics: Day 2 (Photo : Getty Images)
China is actively supporting its delegates in this year's Rio Olympics not only in preparation for the games itself but in maintaining their health as well.
Many Chinese athletes that complete the 17 teams that the Middle Kingdom sent to the 2016 Rio Olympics are staying at a single place in Sao Paolo: the famous Esporte Clube Pinheiros.
According to the Global Times, the athletes will stay in the club between July 22 and Aug. 15 to "train, acclimatize, and recover from jet lag."
Some reporters from People's Daily were able to get hold of some of the Chinese Olympics participants who revealed that they will be eating Chinese food exclusively.
Exclusive Chinese Food
According to the Chinese athletes, they want to take in the local vibe of the Brazilian city but they also want to make sure that they remain in perfect condition for the Games.
"The main training has been finished in Beijing. So here our main task is to acclimatize and recover from jet lag," said team leader Zhou Tao told the reporters.
This is why both security and food preparations remain under the Chinese government's control which is no problem for the Sao Paolo club.
"Security posts have been added around the club. There are buses to shuttle athletes between the training base and their hotel. Meanwhile, athletes are only allowed to leave the club when three or more of them leave together," an unnamed employee of the General Administration of Sport of China told the reporters.
Aside from that, food for the athletes is also exclusively provided by the Rio Olympics Committee, though preparation will remain under the careful hands of Chinese chefs sent with the delegation.
Global Times explained that this was something that had to be done "to avoid any performance-ruining bouts of food poisoning."
The athletes are also prohibited from trying local foods from outside to keep them in perfect shape.
The Chinese Athletes
In July, the South China Morning Post reported about the Asian giant's plans to send 416 athletes to this year's biggest sporting event held in Rio.
Such number, according to the outlet, proves to be quite intimidating considering that it is now considering the biggest delegation China has sent overseas.
Number aside, China also appears to have carefully chosen which athlete to send to the global sporting event with Wu Minxia, a delegate for the Olympic diving competition, earning the country a gold medal in the women's synchronized three-meter springboard.
Her success and those of the other gold and silver medalists is attributed solely to the extensive training conducted in Beijing.
