Figure skating and eating disorders: Why is it just women?

An eating disorders specialist has said that figure skating standards lead to eating disorders among athletes.

An article published by PR Newswire Friday says that more than 80 percent of national level competitors suffer with eating disorders or serious body image issues.

Cue shock. Cue awe.

The specialist also points out that Olympic competitors in aesthetic sports such as gymnastics and figure skating have lasting physical issues from competing.

What Olympic athlete doesn’t?

I’m not saying that athletes should starve themselves for the sport, but I do think we have to acknowledge that just because these people are some of the most athletic in the world does not deem them among the healthiest.

Most Olympic track runners probably suffer from knee problems. Bobsledders can suffer from serious neck injuries. Figure skaters, who have to remain just as thin as those who dance ballet, likely will have body issues.

Many sports encourage bad training behaviors. Wrestlers from my high school ran around, dehydrated, in 100-degree heat in long-sleeved sweat suits to get down to weight for an upcoming match. They would eat cotton balls and salt in an attempt to soak up their water weight. I doubt either of these practices were particularly healthy for them.

The figure skating article discusses the increased risk of athletes being affected by anorexia and bulimia because of newer, tougher judging standards. It says they are favoring younger athletes and fostering eating disorders “…by implementing scoring standards that increasingly emphasize technically complex jumps and spins, which defy the laws of gravity. These changes inevitably favor younger competitors with pre-pubescent body shapes, and create an unlevel playing field for more mature women with fully developed hips and breasts.”

Isn’t that the case for most sports? The younger you are, and the younger you begin training, the more flexible your body is. The lighter you are, the more height you can get. But I don’t hear them complaining about different body styles at all, just eating disorders. I wonder if they are focusing on this sport in particular with eating disorders rather than looking at other sports because it has more of a focus and draw to women? It does not mention male skaters having eating disorders. Interesting.