What I’ve Learned Cooking for an Olympic Champion

A gold medal Olympian’s eating habits and favorite foods, from salad to dessert

Several times a year, I move into Gwen Jorgensen’s Oregon home. I stay for two or three weeks to cook for Gwen, her husband Patrick, and her 3-year old son Stanley.

Gwen is the 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist in triathlon and I am her mother. I fed her for many years, but when she married Patrick Lemieux, he became her full-time chef. He supplied nutrition in the years leading up to 2016 and still does now as she trains with the Bowerman Track Club. My visits give Patrick a break from his duties as chef, housekeeper, and stay-at-home-dad.

A typical day

Breakfast

At six a.m. on a recent visit, Stanley stamped his feet and squealed siren noises from the second floor. I got busy heating water for Gwen’s tea. Soon she and Stanley appeared in the kitchen.

“Morning, Mom.”

“Hi, honey.”

She propped Stanley, in his snowflake fleece sleeper, on the counter. “Eggs or oats, Stan?”

He chose eggs, so I put a pan on the stove to heat.

Except for Stanley, everyone in the house was on their own for breakfast. Patrick made a large pot of coffee to share, and the cupboard and fridge held plenty of oats, yogurt, fruit, and nuts.

Gwen’s go-to morning meal is a cup of oats, presoaked overnight on the counter. Some mornings, she adds banana slices, cooks, and then tops with fruit and nuts. Other days, she cooks the oats without banana and adds a poached egg.

Lunch

Almost every day, Gwen requested a lunch of salad plus a carbohydrate like rice or potato.

One day, I prepped a salad of baby spinach topped with grape tomatoes, celery, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, red onion, and feta. It’s a salad Patrick makes too, topped with olive oil and balsamic.

When Gwen saw the salad, the first thing said was, “Mom, can you do a different dressing?” Over the week, her request became a theme. She craved variety. Even with the same basic ingredients, each cook produces a different result. I made a note to switch up my dressings each day.

This time, I whisked ⅓ cup olive oil with ¼ cup red wine vinegar and a teaspoon of coarse brown mustard. She devoured the salad.

Dinner

Cooking is more satisfying when I prepare to requests. So, after lunch, we discussed dinner options and agreed on sweet potatoes, cooked low and slow until caramelized; and pan-fried sausages. In the fridge, a bag of brussels sprouts needed to be used and when I suggested shaving them for salad, Gwen jumped at the idea. She had been eating them roasted—and once again, she yearned for variety.

The salad was an easy mix of shaved brussels sprouts, spring lettuce mix, onion, and grape tomatoes; tossed with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper; topped with parmesan cheese and toasted sliced almonds.

Gwen liked the salad so much, she asked me to make another one for a Bowerman party the next day.

Snacks

Gwen and Patrick’s pantry is packed with healthy snacks. Bags and jars of almonds, walnuts, cashews, dried mango, dried figs, dates, popcorn. Most days, an hour or two after dinner, Gwen searched for a snack to share with Stanley. Sometimes I made popcorn using a silicone popper in the microwave. Other times, she and Stanley shared dry cereal or handfuls of dried fruit.

There is a special shelf where Gwen keeps her stash of chocolate—the darker, the better—and enjoys one small square after almost every meal, even breakfast.

Five food quotes

Gwen posts frequently about food and nutrition. And at home, it is a favorite topic. She often says:

• I’m making oats for breakfast. Baked or boiled, Gwen eats oats six days a week, mixed with high protein, easily digestible, flavorful additions.
• I need more vegetables. Gwen’s biggest complaint with restaurants and cookbooks is there are never enough vegetables. She always wants more broccoli, asparagus, spinach — anything green.
• Can you do a variation? Even with favorite foods, she appreciates a unique approach.
• Do you have an extra bag? At home, I brew loose leaf tea, but on the road I pack bags of flavored black teas and fruity decaf. In the evenings, as I heated water for one last cup, she often asked for her own.
• I need something sweet. Although she encourages me to decrease the sugar in baked goods, she knows the best flavors at Blue Star Donuts and the Salt and Straw ice cream shop.

Cooking for an athlete

Cooking for Gwen now that she is a professional athlete is both the same — and very different — from cooking for her as a student. Her cravings and requests are similar: lots of green vegetables; healthy proteins; carbohydrates; always a sweet treat.

The biggest difference lies in portion size. Gwen doesn’t count calories. Instead, she listens to her body and eats according to hunger. Because she consumes large quantities, she appreciates variety using a rotating selection of standard ingredients.

Athletes both need and enjoy food. My most successful meals combine the required nutrition with visual appeal and satisfying flavors.

Final Take-Aways

Like Gwen, I am a perfectionist. I enjoy the challenge of cooking for her and Patrick and Stanley, and I try to learn as much as possible. My take-aways:

• Treat food as fuel, enjoyment, and sometimes reward.
• Maintain balance among the food groups.
• Create visual appeal and variety.
• Personalize food prep to the specific athlete.

Nancy Jorgensen’s 2019 memoir, “Go, Gwen, Go: A Family’s Journey to Olympic Gold,” is co-written with daughter Elizabeth Jorgensen and published by Meyer & Meyer Sport. Gwen can be found @gwenjorgensen on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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