This elite sportswoman says she “became a bit obsessive with counting calories and weighing things” until she realised she had become “dangerously light”.

More than a third of 143 respondents to a BBC questionnaire sent to elite British sportswomen said they have experienced disordered eating.

Some who filled it out anonymously said they had restricted food because of social media abuse about the way they look and others because they need to meet weight categories for their sports.

Others said it was because they felt they did not meet expectations of what an athlete was ‘supposed to’ look like.

According to eating disorder charity Beat, disordered eating is about abnormal behaviours or attitudes that may not yet “meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder but are still having a significant impact on someone’s life”.

Read the entire article here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/68445195

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It is the fourth time BBC Sport has sent one out, with results also published in 2013, 2015 and 2020.

Full 2024 study results here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/68534081

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The two-time Olympic gold medallist said she was lucky her coach “saw me as a human being first and an athlete second”.

An independent review found a systemic culture of fear in the sport, enabling abuse and bullying to exist for years.

Adlington said she had a positive experience but saw others who did not

Read more here…https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-68484980

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