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SPORTFISI@ 2021
Author & pictures: Dr. Emma Ross
FACTS & FIGURES APPLYING THE FEMALE FILTER When six women collapsed after the 800-metre race at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the International Olympic Committee banned women from running any distance over 200m. It was thought that any greater distance ‘makes too great a call on feminine strength’. In 2019 Brigid Kosgei broke the long-standing women’s marathon world record by running 26.2 miles in 2 hrs 14 min 4 sec. Incredible performances like this continue to remind us that women can perform far beyond any limits that were originally bestowed upon them by that 1928 committee. As women continue to pursue peak performance, whether that be in sport and exercise or beyond, we have to think differently about what it takes to allow them to fulfil their potential, because it won’t always be the same things that have worked for the men. However, at the moment in sport, female athletes usually train and are coached in a way that doesn’t always consider the ‘female’ part of being a female athlete. The support that is applied to their performance (nutrition, physiology, psychology, etc.) is usually based on research that has been done on men (Costello, Bieuzen, & Bleakley, 2014), or what has been seen to be successful with male athletes.
However women are very different from men. Women have periods and menstrual cycles, they may use hormonal contraception, they have breasts, they are far more likely to have pelvic floor dysfunction, they have a much higher risk of injury, and they manage emotions and derive confidence differently from men. I believe we need to get better at looking at fitness and performance with a female filter, considering all these female specific factors so that as active women we can truly get the best out of ourselves, whatever our ambitions are in sport, from personal achievements to podium performance.
