Australian sprinter Torrie Lewis reveals danger of coeliac disease battle ahead of Paris Olympics

She might be Australia’s fastest woman, but Torrie Lewis has a constant battle on her hands just to get to the starting blocks, revealing how coeliac disease could potentially derail her Olympic campaign.

Australia’s track star Torrie Lewis says one breadcrumb has the potential to derail her Olympic campaign.

Lewis has coeliac disease and she had a scare in the lead-up to the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas last month.

Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disorder that is triggered when you eat gluten, a protein typically found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye.

To avoid symptoms that can include severe abdomen pain, nausea and vomiting, Lewis has a strict gluten-free diet.

She knows that even inadvertently eating a breadcrumb can spark a severe immune response in her body.

“Leading up to competitions, I won’t eat out if I can help it,” Lewis told the En Route To Paris podcast.

One stray breadcrumb for Torrie Lewis could derail her Olympic campaign. Picture: Michael Klein

“I always try to do home-cooked meals where I just know where everything is processed and everything like that.

“I actually think I got a bit of cross-contamination in Miami before the Bahamas.

“I brought my own bread and the hotel said they had a toaster in the back that hadn’t been used, so they took it to toast that.

“But I got really sick that day and the week leading up to like the World Relays.

“Just a crumb can kind of derail all this training so it is really frustrating and a little bit worrying.

“I just try to stay on top of it as much as possible and eat what I know is safe.”

Lewis, 19, will lead off Australia’s 4x100m relay team in Paris and compete in the 200m, an event she recently won at the Australian and Oceania titles.

Torrie Lewis grew up wanting to be an Olympic gymnast, not a sprinter. Picture: Michael Klein

Lewis dreamt as a child about being at an Olympics but not as a sprinter.

“The reason I always wanted to be an Olympian is my mum just always loved sports,” Lewis said.

“Whenever the Olympics or world championships was on, she was glued to the TV and just loved it.

“I guess I always just kind of wanted to be in (sport) because she loved it.

“But my first sport was gymnastics and I wanted to do gymnastics in the Olympics.

“I had to stop gymnastics because I was diagnosed with coeliac (disease).

“But running is the next best thing because she loves that and kind of made me love it, too.”

Originally published as Australian sprinter Torrie Lewis reveals danger of coeliac disease battle ahead of Paris Olympics