Section 21: Private Matters

After seeing Coach Zhao off, Lu Youyou took Sima and Li Xiazhi to the small dining hall to register for meal cards. The dining hall was open exclusively to the university’s sports teams and operated as a buffet. Coaches and athletes ate free of charge. Training consumed enormous amounts of energy, so proper nutrition was essential. The dining hall handled its own purchasing and accounts, with funding coming mainly from two sources: a smaller allocation from the university administration and a larger contribution from the alumni foundation. Beizh Foreign Languages University’s swimming team had enjoyed a long period of glory, winning gold and silver at the Capital Universities Games, the National University Individual Championships, and the National University Games. For a time, they were unrivaled. The small dining hall had originally been established for them, and even the team’s nutritionists and rehabilitation specialists focused on swimming. The track-and-field team merely benefited from their influence.

The university team was, after all, not a professional squad, so there was no distinction between premium and ordinary kitchens. The meat, vegetables, eggs, and dairy products were purchased through Beizh University of Physical Education, guaranteeing a certain standard of quality. Most dishes were stewed or boiled, with very little frying or stir-frying. Seasonings were used sparingly in order to preserve the ingredients’ nutrients and natural flavors. To those accustomed to strong flavors, the food could hardly be called delicious. According to the nutritionist’s requirements, apart from a few athletes under special observation who had to eat in the small dining hall, everyone else was free to choose. Still, the word “free” attracted most of the coaches and athletes. If the taste was a little bland, they could simply add some Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, and suddenly the dish had color, aroma, and flavor.

At last, the days of scraping by had come to an end. Sima piled his plate high with chicken breast, lean beef, sea cucumber, and prawns to replenish his supply of quality protein. He added plenty of vegetables and eggs, poured himself a glass of hot milk, and bent over his meal, eating heartily. His appetite made Lu Youyou envious. When she had been an athlete, she too had been able to eat enormous quantities without gaining weight. But now she was gradually getting older and shifting toward a full-time coaching position. Though she had not yet retired, her training load was far lighter than before, which meant she had to control her diet to keep her figure from deteriorating.

Li Xiazhi also ate a large plateful with determined little huffs. The girl was usually quiet and taciturn, but she never complained during training and was not at all delicate. Girls from the Chinese Department were not all frail, pampered Lin Daiyus.

Lu Youyou had no idea why Li Xiazhi had chosen the Chinese Department at Beizh Foreign Languages University. Entering a foreign-language university and then refusing to study a foreign language was like throwing away the pearl and keeping the box. Even Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language would have been a more sensible choice.

Once, after training, Lu Youyou had asked her what she intended to do in the future. Li Xiazhi said that she loved hurdling because it made her feel as though she were flying. In high school, she had been too busy training and competing to keep up with her academic studies. She had applied to many universities, but some had rejected her because of her poor grades, while others did not offer the hundred-meter hurdles. Her father had called in every favor he could, and only then had he persuaded Beizh to grant her a special admission place for high-level athletes. She had no say in her major and was eventually deposited in the Chinese Department. Li Xiazhi did not care. The hundred-meter hurdles were her foundation; no matter what she studied, she would rank at the bottom of the class. There was no difference.

Lu Youyou felt that Li Xiazhi was simple yet clear-minded. Sima, by contrast, was somewhat… calculating and slippery. If her younger cousin stayed with him, she would either escape without losing anything or suffer a devastating loss.

Sima polished off two plates in succession and, still not satisfied, went to fetch a third. Li Xiazhi could eat no more. She set down her utensils and watched him. She noticed that Sima did not eat pork, fried food, or stir-fried dishes. Earlier, when they had trained at Beizh University of Physical Education, they had usually eaten dinner in the student cafeteria before returning, and Sima had never been particular. He ate whatever was served, happily devouring fried pork cutlets and stir-fried pork. Why had he become so fussy in the sports team’s small dining hall?

Since he was using the pursuit of her as a pretext, surely there was no harm in asking a few personal questions. Unable to restrain her curiosity, she asked why he had not taken the sliced pork with garlic sauce, nor the twice-cooked pork. The small dining hall prepared both dishes exceptionally well, and they were very popular.

Sima told her that when one had a choice, one should choose high-quality protein and healthy cooking methods. When one had no choice, one ate whatever was available. Pork might contain residues of clenbuterol or other hormones, while frying and stir-frying could destroy nutrients. As athletes, they were better off avoiding such risks whenever possible.

Li Xiazhi was skeptical. She liked sliced pork with garlic sauce, and she liked twice-cooked pork too. By Sima’s reasoning, was she no longer allowed to eat either dish?

Lu Youyou also thought Sima was being overly cautious—at least, he was becoming cautious too early. There was no harm in waiting until he made the provincial team and began preparing for major competitions before worrying about such matters. Still, she had a keen nose for a worthwhile subject. She filed the question away, planning to consult Head Coach Zhang Chongqing when she returned. Perhaps she could even write a paper about it.

As she studied Sima, she felt that he resembled a prize machine, occasionally producing an unexpected surprise.

After dinner, Lu Youyou told Sima to escort Li Xiazhi back and hurried to her dormitory. She dialed up the internet and looked up information about clenbuterol.

“Clenbuterol” was a general term for a category of feed additives, usually referring to clenbuterol hydrochloride. Once it entered an animal’s body, it could alter the pathways through which nutrients were metabolized, promote muscle growth—especially the synthesis of skeletal-muscle protein—accelerate the conversion and breakdown of fat, and increase the proportion of lean meat in livestock. The substances capable of producing these effects mainly belonged to a class of drugs known as beta-adrenergic agonists, also called beta stimulants. Common examples included clenbuterol hydrochloride, salbutamol, ractopamine, salbutamol sulfate, dopamine hydrochloride, cimaterol, and terbutaline sulfate.

In 1984, foreign countries first began using clenbuterol hydrochloride as a feed additive in the production of sheep, broiler chickens, and pigs, with fairly good results. Beginning in 1991, Qin also gradually introduced it into the feed of ducks, pigs, and beef cattle. Experiments showed that clenbuterol not only effectively improved feed conversion but also increased the lean-meat rate by nine to sixteen percent, reduced skeletal-muscle fat by eight to fifteen percent, and significantly improved carcass quality. For that reason, clenbuterol hydrochloride was highly valued by the meat-breeding industry for some time as both a “growth promoter” and a “nutrient repartitioning agent.”

Beta-adrenergic agonists were metabolized slowly in pigs raised for meat. Their highest residual concentrations were found in the liver, where they could reach more than ten times the concentration found in muscle tissue. After eating pork containing residual clenbuterol, a person might experience muscle tremors, palpitations, shaking, headaches, nausea, or vomiting. The danger was even greater for patients suffering from hypertension, heart disease, glaucoma, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or an enlarged prostate. In severe cases, it could result in death…

When Lu Youyou saw the words “beta stimulants,” the first thing that flashed through her mind was drug testing. She became instantly excited. As early as 1995, the Qin Sports Commission had promulgated the Interim Regulations on the Prohibition of Doping in Sports. She was certain that beta stimulants were not included on the list of banned substances. If she could produce a paper explaining their dangers and help bring beta-adrenergic agonists under the ban, it would be enormously beneficial to her future career.

Sima really was her lucky star!