An Olympic Diet by Umit Bektas
In my yesterdays rant about The Olympics I mentioned the vision or thoughts I usually have when I think about the event and sports in general. Especially the science involved in making the athletes faster, leaner, more agile and whatever is necessary to cut all those seconds or add all the strength needed for wining. The big one there is nutrition. Training and hard work is key, of course, but one will go nowhere without proper meals, supplements and vitamins, and this is where science of nutrition and dieting kicks in.
Not that I know much about it. All I know is that it takes a toll on life. It needs an incredible dedication and a constant regime of workouts, rest and nutrition. Its incredible what all those athletes put themselves through to do something faster, stronger, harder and longer. What they do to put their bodies to the extremes to reach something so sublime and at the same time ephemeral. This is just mind-boggling and that is why I’m sitting here writing this and not running laps in the rain.
But lets go back to the nutrition and foods. Couple of weeks ago I wrote about some artworks made out of food and those just stuck with me. I noticed so much of them and started looking for more. I wrote about all these beautiful sandwich photography projects a week ago and more I saw more I thought. Olympics just added more things to think about to the bunch I already had. I might be hungry, but there is something more in food related artworks than just hunger or beauty. It might be only me, but there is something very vulnerable and beautiful in all that necessity to feed, eat and drink. For me it’s like looking under the hood. Looking at all those wires and parts that keeps you running. It’s more than being naked. It’s showing your innards, your batteries, and your connections to life.
“I’m so hungry I could kill someone.” “I’m so hungry I can’t talk or think.” “I’m so hungry I could eat a bucket of noodles.” I heard these dozens of times and saw people run to fill their belies with all those life extenders. What a beautiful and somehow sad vulnerability. Someone once told me that it’s in someway perverse to think that way, but I can’t help it. This is what I see and this is how I feel. That is also why I love food related artworks and these photographs by Turkish photographer Umit Bektas all around this post.
As we are full on Olympians at the moment, this one is spot on. Umit Bektas did this set of photographs called An Olympic Diet where he photographed Turkish Olympians during their preparation for the games and did that with all the food these athletes eat during their day of training. Yes! All that food is their daily intake. One day! For some it might seem far too much, for others not enough, but lets face it sticking to any of these diets would be hard.
This dedication deserves admiration and I wish success to all of them. As Turkey is yet to win their first Olympic medal they truly need that, as much as all the rest out there in Olympia. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, as Daft Punk would say it!
Smooth Yeti
