Ramadan and sports. Cherif Traorè and Massimo Stano explain how fasting is not an insurmountable problem

When Ramadan ends, the holy month of diurnal fasting for Muslims, a party is organized in which to go back to eating and having fun together, celebrating the hard days of atonement for one’s sins and reflections on the relationship that the faithful have with Allah, following the precepts of the Prophet Muhammad. Among the categories of people who are particularly affected by fasting and total abstention from fluid intake after sunrise and before sunset, there are sportsmen. Training, playing, competing during a period that puts physical and spiritual strength to the test is certainly not easy and perhaps calls for an effort perhaps greater than that of “ordinary people”.

“These are very difficult days – he says Cherif Traore, prop for Benetton Treviso and the Italian national rugby team – because if you do you have to be constant and respectful. I wake up around 4 in the morning to have breakfast and a protein drink, then I go back to sleep. When I wake up I have the classic routine of all other times of the year, so I train between the gym and the field”. Traorè was born in 1994 in Kindia, Guinea, then he moved to Italy with his whole family. He is therefore grew up in a traditionally Muslim family who always respected Ramadan.

Massimo Stano, gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in the 20km walk and reigning world champion, converted in 2016, so he had to deal with the harshness of a religious practice he was not used to. “I converted in the month of June – he says -, that year Ramadan fell in August and it was very hard. I didn’t train because I was injured, so I don’t know if I would be able to interrupt it due to the heat (following the handouts that some imams gives to the athletes, ed.). I tend to think that if you trust Allah you do Ramadan and he gives you something back, but you have to be in that situation to be able to decide”.

Stano says he has found great benefit since he embraced the Islamic religion almost seven years ago: “At the beginning I thought that fasting was practically impossible, even if only for a cultural fact. But then I saw that I could do it and this it gave me the strength to believe that with the right commitment, great goals could be achieved. Not eating and not drinking is not easy, but neither is winning an Olympic gold medal and a world championship. there is a hand in Islam”.

Traoré, on the other hand, makes Ramadan an intimately spiritual picture, which goes beyond sports performance. “Religion gives you comfort – he explains – When you follow such a long period of reflection, you know you are doing something that brings you closer to Allah, but above all you know that you purify yourself through the deprivation of food and water. But it is something you do with pleasure, without ever allowing yourself moments of hesitation, even if it is difficult when you see everyone around you eating and drinking, or when you know that there is everything in the fridge”. And he adds: “This month I’ve done less heavy workouts during the sunny hours and I’ve left the expensive ones for the evening. Sure, especially not being able to drink is a huge difficulty, but it’s like I’m training with an overload, so now When Ramadan is over, I’ll train easily, I’ll feel like I’m flying”.

The end of Ramadan, “Eid al-Fitr”, is the occasion that Muslim families have to meet again and celebrate together. Both Traorè and Stano compare it to the Christian Easter. “Just like Christians – says the rugby player -, we stay at home and eat lamb and hearty dishes. It’s nice because my family and I all come from such a long fast, so we want to chat and stay at home”.

For the walker, however, it is different: “Now I live in Rome and all my loved ones are in the north, so yes, I will certainly eat something more, but I won’t be able to stay with them. I miss that convivial moment which is very similar to Easter, but they know how important training is to me, above all because we have the World Cup in August: this is too important a period of the season.”

Race walking and rugby are also different sports in that one is perhaps the quintessence of individuality, while the other is one of the most cooperative team sports in the world.

“Among my teammates, only I do Ramadan – confesses Traorè – Once there was also Monty Ioane, who was struggling a lot. Now he has gone to play in Australia and I’m the only one left, but I still find the strength within me to never give in and to always wait for the sunset to come back to eat and drink”.

“This period is very important for Muslims. I am happy with the decision to convert”, says Stano. “I haven’t been to Mecca yet, but I have to go because it’s one of the five pillars of Islam. My in-laws have told me it’s a unique experience, but since my wife hasn’t been there yet either, I want to make the pilgrimage is an important experience for both”.

Even Traorè hasn’t been there yet: “I’ve heard from those who have already gone and I’ve seen the videos, it’s an incredible thing to see millions of people gathered in the same place. There are people who go there when they’re on their deathbed, why die in Mecca it is one of the most sacred things that exist. I can’t wait to go there to give more meaning to my relationship with faith, in a place where everyone, from the richest to the poorest, does the same things and experience the same emotions”.