Importance of Weight and Physical Appearance in Figure Skating, Running, and Dance

Importance of Weight and Physical Appearance in Figure Skating, Running, and Dance

Do sports that demand intensive training such as figure skating, running, and dance, place an unhealthy emphasis on the weight and physical appearance of athletes?

Participation in athletics has many benefits. Young athletes improve their physical and mental health, self-esteem, and self-confidence from their participation in competitive sports (Burney, 1998). In sports like gymnastics, dance, figure skating, and running, where athletes are to be judged in part on their physical appearance, there is a high percentage of disordered eating. Many of these athletes starve themselves to dangerous levels in an attempt to increase their scores and to please their coaches and parents. In general, competitive athletes train six days a week and many of them, particularly young females, burn more calories than they ingest. The stringent demands of these sports, in combination with coaches and judging, are creating an environment that leads many athletes to develop eating disorders in their quest for performance perfection.

Many coaches encourage athletes to be lean and fit in order to promote optimal levels of performance. Many young athletes, however, take a coach's or parent's suggestion and interpret it in the wrong way. A young athlete in many cases assumes that the suggestion to be lean and fit means they are fat and need to loose significant amounts of weight in order to win. The desire to be thin, like competitive sports, becomes a competition. Both concepts incorporate the desire for perfection and both require practice and training. The difference is that the desire to be thin, if practiced too long and hard, can lead to death.

Studies l...

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...ery strenuous on a growing body, and it is vital to educate these devoted athletes at an early age about the importance of healthy living.

Works Cited:

Beals, K. and Manore, M. 1998. "Nutritional status of female athletes with subclinical eating disorders." Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 98:419-425.

Burney, M. and Brehm, B. 1998. "The Female Athlete Triad." Journal of Physical Education. 69:43-45.

Pigeon, P. and Oliver, I. 1997. "Intensive dance practice." The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 25: 243-247.

Slay, H. and Hayaki, J. 1998. "Motivations for Running and Eating Attitudes in Obligatory Versus Nonobligatory Runners." International Journal of Eating Disorders. 23: 267-275.

Ziegler, P. and San Khoo, C. 1998. "Body Image and Dieting Behaviors Among Elite Figure Skaters." International Journal of Eating Disorders. 24:421-427.