Olympians – athletes at the top of their sport and in prime health – are idolized and often viewed as superhuman. These athletes spend their lives focusing on building physical strength through rigorous training and diets that are honed to provide the nutrients necessary to excel at their sport.
However, and having an unhealthy relationship with food and their bodies.
The distinctive lifestyle of elite athletes can create a hotbed for eating disorders and , meaning restrictive, compulsive, irregular or inflexible eating patterns, all of which can occur on a spectrum.
In 2019, 19% of male and 45% of female athletes worldwide , according to the International Olympic Committee. For perspective, in the general population, about in their lifetime.
Several Winter Olympians, including , and figure skaters , and , have spoken about their experience with an eating disorder and . Lipnitskaya, one of the youngest Winter Olympic gold medalists, , a few short years after winning her 2014 team gold medal in Sochi, Russia.
As a , I regularly work with athletes and clients who experience eating disorders and disordered relationships with food and exercise. Based on my and , I believe that the public can learn to better support athletes with eating disorders by considering the unique risk factors they face.
How perfectionism makes athletes vulnerable
One contributing factor for is an athlete’s temperament, since .
For example, an athlete’s constant desire to improve and their intense can border on and . An unrelenting focus on achievement and competitiveness are all associated with . Personality traits such as mental toughness, discipline, high pain tolerance and persistence and behaviors in athletes.
These traits are also but are often viewed as positive traits in athletes since they lead to high achievement and attainment. For instance, an athlete might restrict food intake to find focus, or delay eating to achieve a specific goal that day. Or they might engage in compulsive exercise regardless of hunger or injury, chalking it up to discipline.
What’s more, in athletes, typical signs of an eating disorder, such as training for long hours without appropriate breaks for meals or obsessing about only consuming certain healthy foods, can be overlooked due to the normalization of these behaviors in high-level sports.
An emphasis on leanness and muscular prowess
The primary sports where eating disorders traditionally surface are gymnastics, wrestling, dancing, bodybuilding and , since these are sports where .
About 46% of athletes in so-called , compared with almost 20% of athletes in sports that are not weight-focused. That’s because athletes in weight-sensitive sports experience far more emphasis and , which often involves weight monitoring as part of their training or competition.
Athletes in these sports also experience high demands of constant competition, rigidity around their dieting and exercise schedule, high energy output and an incredibly .
External factors can also put an athlete at risk for an eating disorder. For instance, in various sports like running, rock climbing and figure skating, there is a that being at a lower weight will improve an athlete’s performance. This can lead to disordered behavior that may initially feel ; however, it can negatively affect performance and health over the long run. External pressure, such as and family, media and societal standards of fitness and team culture around dieting and weight, also place athletes at high risk for eating disorders.
‘No pain, no gain’ culture
Another serious factor regarding eating disorders in high-level athletes is that a very small percentage of them seek treatment. A 2021 study found that among U.S. athletes who experienced disordered eating or had an official diagnosis, and 75% had no intention of seeking it. For perspective, the help-seeking rate for those with disordered eating or eating disorders in the general population is , compared with .
In competitive sports, a “” mentality can often directly and indirectly reward athletes who push themselves to the extreme. As a result, athletes may be less and to come forward with their issues for fear of not wanting to have restrictions on their practice and competition put in place, of being ostracized from their teammates or of losing sponsorship or scholarship opportunities.
Along with this comes a about eating disorders, stigma and unhealthy attitudes and assumptions toward mental health from coaches and other athletic personnel, all of which can impede an athlete’s likelihood of seeking care. Ultimately, seeking and receiving treatment can be difficult for athletes because athletes face sacrificing time away from their sport, which is often their livelihood.
Protective factors
Despite the stacked risk factors, athletes also have some working in their favor. For instance, exercising regularly and noncompulsively is . And participating in sports that emphasize body functionality over physical appearance can have a .
Strong who focus on creating a safe and supportive environment that – along with , rather than – can also be protective against disordered eating.
One preventive strategy that the International Olympic Committee has been working on is of health. This assessment will focus on an athlete’s body composition and other determinants of health, such as vital signs, to determine if they are fit to perform in the upcoming qualifiers and Olympic games. These guidelines may allow athletes to get much-needed help and support.
Athletes are not superhuman
Despite the perception of superhuman qualities, athletes who experience eating disorders experience all of the same consequences of eating disorders as the general population. But athletes also , decreased strength and endurance, and worsened athletic performance over time and fatigue, and are more likely to in their lifetime.
Research shows that early , awareness of eating disorders in athletics, and education for athletes, families and coaches are all strong .
Athletes often require a . This may include a therapist, psychiatrist, sports psychologist, registered dietitian, medical doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist or any combination of these. This team can assist the athlete in stabilizing medications, improving nutritional intake and recognizing differences between athletic dedication and disordered behavior.
It is also critically important for family to be involved and that the athletes’ entire support system – as well as the public – remember that athletes are humans, with real emotions and struggles, just like the rest of us.
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