For two weeks, Paris, France became the epicenter of elite athletic competition as the Summer Olympics brought thousands of players, coaches, family and fans to the City of Light. Among those working at the games this year was Maggie McCrudden ’14, a Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics alumna serving as a food and nutrition registered dietitian for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. She graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition.
“My foundation was built at Syracuse,” McCrudden says from the Team USA High Performance Center (HPC), set up exclusively for Team USA to provide American athletes with a place to eat, train, relax and get a reprieve from the stress and chaos of the games.
“They can do some recovery—whatever that looks like for them—and then we also have a lot of outdoor space, so people are in hammocks or on chairs and there are games. It’s like camp,” McCrudden says.
Falk College alumna Maggie McCrudden worked at her first Olympic Games as a dietitian for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, helping athletes eat right to be able to perform at the highest level.
The HPC is about 20 minutes from the Olympic Village, featuring training facilities, meal options, sports medicine, private meeting spaces, recovery space, video review areas and dorm accommodations. The complex includes pools, indoor and outdoor track and field equipment, strength and conditioning facilities, volleyball and basketball courts, fencing strips and archery targets. McCrudden says the goal of the HPC was to provide a “home away from home” for the athletes.
McCrudden has worked for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for three years, but this was her first time working at an Olympic Games. She and a food service team from Colorado Springs, Colorado, prepared and packed pallets of USA-branded food tailored to athletes’ preferences that were shipped to Paris before the Olympics.
She says her education at Falk College and her experience as a collegiate athlete on the women’s rowing team put her on the path to success.
“Being a part of a major sports school and an athlete has helped me so much in my current role because I feel like I understand what the athletes are going through,” McCrudden says. “I understand the ‘go, go, go’ mentality and sometimes just needing a little help.”
McCrudden ran into other members of the Orange family at the Olympics, including fellow Falk College alumnus and hurdler Freddie Crittenden III ’17 and her former rowing teammate, Hattie Taylor ’17, who she watched win a bronze medal for Great Britain.
“I always say wear red, white, and blue but bleed Orange!” McCrudden says.
McCrudden will return to the U.S. after transitioning responsibilities to a colleague for the Paralympic Games, which run Aug. 28 through Sept. 28.
Story by Cathleen O’Hare
