POC eyes local chef for Olympic buildup

To make sure that the diet of Filipino athletes will be taken care of, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is looking to hire a local chef for the buildup to the Paris Olympics.

POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said they are looking at hiring a Filipino chef to make sure that the Olympians will get the proper nutrition as they embark on a one-month training in Metz, a city that is more than an hour train ride from Paris.

He added that bringing in a chef from the Philippines will be more cost-efficient rather than hiring somebody based in France.

“We’re computing the costs of the flight and visa and it might be cheaper to bring our own chef,” Tolentino said.

“Hiring a chef in France would be costly as they would charge us Euros per hour.”

Bringing in a chef to take care of the athletes is nothing new.

During the 27th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar in 2013, the POC tagged along three Filipino chefs to cook for the national delegation.

Then in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, renowned international chef Bruce Lim joined the delegation, helping them win 58 gold medals, 85 silver medals and 117 bronze medals.

Aside from the chef, the POC will also deploy physical therapists in the Metz training camp.

“The nutritionists and all the physical therapists of the sports involved but that doesn’t mean all of them will be traveling with us to Paris,” Tolentino said.

“They will stay in Metz until 22 or 23 July but we are working on extending that.”

The Philippines is looking to surpass the 1-2-1 gold-silver-bronze medal tally back in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.