Post by max23 on Feb 4, 2023 1:48:04 GMT -5
The ABC is the Australian equivalent of the BBC. Unlike the commercial media in Australia, they have regular stories on their website about menstruation. In the latest news story, three athletes discuss the effect periods had on their performances. The most prominent of these is swimmer Cate Campbell, who is a former 100 metre freestyle world record holder.
"Cate Campbell has spent most of her professional swimming career trying to find a way to manage her periods.
The four-time Olympic champion experienced 'patchy' periods which would often appear during competitions, and her weight would fluctuate during her menstrual cycle. The 30-year-old now uses the Mirena IUD.
'It's not a perfect solution. It gives me some very intense cramps around the time of my period, but my period is very light, and only comes once every two months', she said.
'So I can't specifically manage when it is, but I find that it's easier than going through a regular cycle. I want to see more open discussion about periods and hormones and female health on the pool deck, just something that's normalised. I was very lucky, my coach was very open to talking about it. But just because of the broader societal culture of silence around this topic, I often didn't feel comfortable raising it with him'."
As an aside, I seem to remember Cate Campbell being quite shy when she first made an impression on the world stage as a teenager. I imagine then that teenaged Cate would be mortified by 30 year old Cate talking publicly about her period, lol.
As an elite athlete, Cate Campbell struggled to manage her period. She wants more awareness of women's health issues: www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-01/cate-campbell-katja-dedekind-swimming-womens-health-periods/101848960
"Cate Campbell has spent most of her professional swimming career trying to find a way to manage her periods.
The four-time Olympic champion experienced 'patchy' periods which would often appear during competitions, and her weight would fluctuate during her menstrual cycle. The 30-year-old now uses the Mirena IUD.
'It's not a perfect solution. It gives me some very intense cramps around the time of my period, but my period is very light, and only comes once every two months', she said.
'So I can't specifically manage when it is, but I find that it's easier than going through a regular cycle. I want to see more open discussion about periods and hormones and female health on the pool deck, just something that's normalised. I was very lucky, my coach was very open to talking about it. But just because of the broader societal culture of silence around this topic, I often didn't feel comfortable raising it with him'."
As an aside, I seem to remember Cate Campbell being quite shy when she first made an impression on the world stage as a teenager. I imagine then that teenaged Cate would be mortified by 30 year old Cate talking publicly about her period, lol.
As an elite athlete, Cate Campbell struggled to manage her period. She wants more awareness of women's health issues: www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-01/cate-campbell-katja-dedekind-swimming-womens-health-periods/101848960