“With nearly three million Muslims living in Britain, the observance of Ramadan here is not generally a notable occurrence,†Sam Borden wrote in The New York Times. “But the Olympics have made this far from an ordinary summer in England,†which has “led to a variety of issues for the estimated 3,000 Muslim athletes and officials at the Games,†he wrote.
“Restrictions for Ramadan are laid out in the second chapter of the Koran, where it is written: ‘And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, a number of other days,' Mr. Borden wrote. For most athletes competing at the Olympics the second part of that passage has been the rationale to postpone their fast until after competition, but not for all.
For Coach Pim Verbeek, who is from the Netherlands and not Muslim, that breakdown has required an increasi ngly difficult scheduling dance. During training, Verbeek held two sets of meals and two different practices: one practice at noon, when the fasting players were generally sleeping, with the other at 6:30 p.m., when the fasting players were able to work because they would follow it by breaking their fast a few hours later.
In other words, while most teams at the Games were doing everything they could to become more unified as competition approached, Verbeek's team had split in two.
“Our full team hasn't eaten a full meal together since July 20,†Verbeek said in an interview. “It's interesting, I suppose, but it's not very good timing.â€
Then there are performance concerns. Dehydration is the primary problem for athletes. Verbeek said his team trainers had to double-check which players they were tossing water bottles to during games to make sure they were not offering water to the observant players.
The lack of fluids can sometimes also cause pa rticularly awkward moments during standard postmatch drug testing.
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