Nocher knows her nosh

IF Michael Phelps is munching his way through 12,000 calories a day, what are Irish swimmers like Melaine Nocher consuming down in the Olympic Village?

“I’ve been very boring,” she admitted after setting a new Irish record for the 200m backstroke last night.

“I’ve had Spaghetti Bolognese for the last seven nights. I don’t work well with too many foreign foods. I’ve a pretty sensitive stomach and I don’t like a lot of things. Spaghetti Bolognese with peppers and onions has been my main dinner since I came to the Olympic Village. Usually you put on a few extra kilos coming into a competition, but I seem to have lost it all. I don’t know if it is dehydration, but you have to be really careful about what you eat and drink when you are at a competition like this. I try to eat as regularly as possible and my main foodstuffs would be fruit and pasta — anything that can give you energy.”