Some Olympic swimmers are turning to drinking cola as a surprising part of their workout regimen.
The Seine River, the site of a number of athletic events at the Paris Games, has raised water quality-related concerns — namely, E.coli and fecal matter — for months, despite the fact that the French city spent $1.5 billion to de-pollute it. The marathon swim test, meant to allow Olympians to preview the marathon swimming course, was canceled on Tuesday by the World Aquatics, per the Associated Press.
To mitigate the risk of bacterial infection, some athletes have taken to drinking Coca-Cola after swimming in the river. “There’s no harm in drinking a Coke after a race,” New Zealand triathlete Ainsley Thorp told The Wall Street Journal. “If you Google it, it says it can help.”
“We will often have a Coca-Cola afterward just to try to flush out anything inside of us,” Australian swimmer Moesha Johnson said. “I just do what I’m told by the professionals around me.”
However, Dr. Maria Abreu, president of the American Gastroenterological Association, was somewhat skeptical about the cleansing powers of the popular beverage brand. Given that a healthy gut is more acidic than Coke, Abreu said, it’s unlikely that the soda would be able to eliminate any unwanted bacteria. “These are young, athletic people,” the doctor shared, according to PEOPLE. “They’re going to be healthy people whose stomach acid is going to be nice and robust.”
While Coke’s bacteria-ridding capabilities are still more or less up for debate, the soda can be useful for a post-competition sugar rush. “My coach advised me to [drink Coca-Cola] to restore those glycogen levels immediately,” American swimmer Katie Grimes shared.