Imagine training for an Olympic Games without any food or water.
For Team GB's Mohamed Sbihi, the experience was a privilege.
Sbihi, British Rowing's first practicing Muslim athlete, spent his build up to the Tokyo 2020 Games fasting for Ramadan, the month of Islamic celebration in which strict fasting is observed from dawn to sunset.
The 35-year-old harbours fond memories of Ramadan moments shared with family and friends but suddenly found himself having to embrace the new challenge of training and fasting on his own during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
It's an experience he remembers with pride.
"I look back on that time and it's one of my proudest achievements in a way because it showed me what is possible in the human body," he said.
"The month of Ramadan means a lot of different things to people but one of the things that it means to me is the social and family element.
"I don't necessarily get the social element of my religion all of the time over in the UK as most of my family are in Morocco so I miss out on that social side of Ramadan.
"It's just a great way to recheck yourself and reanalyse the importance of things around you.
"It's not just about giving up food and drink, it means a lot more to the Muslim faith.
"My biggest learning from being an athlete fasting is just realising what my body can do.
"Especially during lockdown, it taught me what training my body liked during fasting, it preferred low intensity endurance training all day compared to sprint work.
"2020 was super humbling and super inspiring to fast with everyone else around the world whilst training from my own home."
Ramadan takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar year during which practicing Muslims come together to celebrate the month in which the Divine revelations of the Quran began.
Sbihi's favourite Ramadan tradition is his grandmother's habit of breaking fast with a humble meal of dates and milk.
Dates and milk were both easily accessible to practicing Muslims in the earliest years of Ramadan and are therefore one of the best ways to respect the origins of the celebration before moving onto more extravagant feasts.
But when training during Ramadan, the three-time Olympic medallist was forced to adapt the meals he ate at Iftar, needing to consume an enormous number of calories for the day ahead.
"When I was training and even now, when you fast your stomach shrinks, so the moment you break fast, I could often be satisfied with three dates and a cup of milk," he added.
"Obviously as an athlete that's not ideal.
"In 2020 I was consuming so much in those hours because I had survived the day but the next day I didn't want to fall over so I would try to get in as much food as possible.
"The whole point of an athlete is that you do your exercise and then get your food in as fast as possible but I was doing three sessions a day and having to wait until 8.30pm or 9pm to take in my food.
"It's been a huge learning curve for myself, my coaches and my teammates over the years, but they've always been super accommodating.”
Every 44 years, the Olympic Games coincide with the month of Ramadan and Sbihi was just one of the thousands of athletes that witnessed this occur during the London 2012 Games.
Sbihi fell into an internal battle as to whether he should continue his fast as usual or break the commitment to benefit his sporting performance.
As part of the men's eight, he made the decision to not fast during the 2012 Games after speaking in depth to his family, instead choosing to pay a tax called Kaffarah - a religious donation to those in need when you break your fast unnecessarily.
"The premise behind it is a tax and the narrative that comes out is that you've made a charitable donation," he said.
"It makes you appreciate why you haven't fasted.
"I had to make a decision when Ramadan was slap bang over the Olympics in 2012 and it has often been around training camps as well.
"Every day that you intentionally break fast for a reason that is not accounted for, you have to fast 30 extras days or feed 60 people.
"So, I could accumulate 1,800 meals for people over not fasting.
"The first time around, I linked up with a Moroccan charity based in the UK called Walou4us, 'walou' meaning 'nothing' in Moroccan.
"And then for Rio 2016 I made a charitable donation to my family back home to disperse the funds how they sought best.
"Most of the conversations I had around what to do were with my family and my dad was really supportive.
"It's hard to explain to everybody what sport means and the impact it can have during that time.
"When you're in a boat and reliant on the team around you, I never wanted there to be a seed of doubt that I was not at my best. Ultimately that drove my decision."
Sbihi became Team GB's first-ever Muslim flagbearer during the Opening Ceremony of Tokyo 2020.
The rower now hopes that his journey as a Muslim Olympic athlete can help inspire others both on the water and within their own Ramadan journeys.
"I grew up with my dad fasting and have always been really inspired by him and wanted to join in when I was younger," he said.
"My dad has now had another child with my step-mum, and I see the eagerness of my eight-year-old sister wanting to fast too and be like her mum and dad.
"I totally get it and I would love for my kids to follow in my footsteps too.
"It's so social, going round to people's houses and breaking fast together and sharing traditions.
"My journey has been incredible and I'm truly humbled to have been the first Muslim flag bearer for Team GB.
"My story has not been oppressive but hopefully inspires a lot more people, especially to get a more diverse culture within rowing."
Sportsbeat 2023