You don’t look like a hockey player.” That was the first thing strangers would tell Team GB’s Sam Quek when she told them she was a professional athlete. “They’d say, ‘but you’re not big and butch’,” Sam tells LK. The Olympic gold medallist heard this comment so many times that she sometimes caught herself worrying: “But are my shoulders too bulky?”

Since the moment Sam started taking hockey seriously at her Wirral junior school, body image was always on her mind. “As I got older, I became more conscious of my changing shape, developing terrible posture to hide my growing boobs,” says the retired athlete and BBC pundit. For every gymnastics PE lesson and dance at school, she’d somehow ‘forget’ her leotard and hide her figure under a baggy tee.

However, Sam also credits finding the right sport and kit with helping her to feel confident just as she is. “Training and competing alongside other like-minded team mates reminded me it didn’t matter what I looked like,” she explains. “I needed to be fast enough to run down the field and strong enough to not be pushed by an opponent off the ball – worrying about aesthetic ideals wasn’t going to fulfil my dreams.”

Just as Sam did in the run-up to striking gold in Rio in 2016, the 5,250 female athletes set to participate in this year’s Olympic Games are likely to have navigated their own wobbly relationships with their bodies on their journeys to Paris. But it is hoped that their presence on a global stage – one that will present diversity of shapes and sizes across all sports – will counteract a worrying trend.

A study published by the Education Policy Institute and the Prince’s Trust discovered that, while self-esteem between girls and boys was at a similar level when they left primary school, girls experience a much faster decline in self-esteem by the age of 14 – at which point one in three girls report feeling unhappy with how they look. This has a direct impact on exercise uptake, with research published in the journal Sport, Education and Society showing that 70 per cent of teenage girls drop out of sport altogether due to worrying about how they look.

“I think it is incredibly sad that we generally teach girls the most important thing they have to offer this world is the way THEY LOOK”

The UK government strongly recommends that under-18s should be logging at least 60 minutes of movement every day. But with only a third of girls reported to be ‘very active’ on a weekly basis, according to campaign group Women in Sport, it appears that the vast majority of young women are missing out on the many physical and mental health benefits of exercise.

The connection between girls’ negative body image and their low participation in sport has begun to attract attention in recent years, with athletes like Dina Asher-Smith calling out the lack of diversity in body shapes represented in sports-focused TV coverage and media, arguing that it could harm future generations. “Is there only one marketable body type for women?” the thoughtful sprinter, who secured medals at the last two Olympics, asked in an open letter in The Players’ Tribune. “What does it say to girls and young women who aspire to be athletes?”

Start line

The belief that we need the ‘right’ body type in order to participate in sport is conditioned in us from a young age, says Kate Manne, author of Unshrinking: How To Fight Fatphobia. “There is often a sense that this is what a sprinter looks like or this is what a swimmer looks like,” she tells LK, pointing towards the impact of weight stigmatisation in sports. “There is evidence, for instance, that some young people falsely believe larger people can’t run for long distances.” It has also instilled in us, Kate suggests, the misconception that exercise is for weight loss rather than its other perks – from social interaction to good quality sleep.

This negative messaging begins in early childhood. “The human fear of not fitting in – socially and literally – is very deep, appearing before the age of five,” says Kate, highlighting how it’s a sentiment ingrained by limited sizing of school uniforms and lessons on BMI. That the world is less inviting to larger people leads to the plummeting physical activity levels of teenage girls, who are repeatedly exposed to a narrow aspirational body type – with a Mental Health Foundation survey finding that social media is primarily to blame.

This is something Camilla Lorentzen, who shares the message of body positivity with more than one million followers on Instagram, is keen to change. “Growing up, I wanted to look like a Victoria’s Secret model because I believed it would make me happier,” the influencer, who is based in Norway, told LK. “Since embarking on my first diet aged nine, when I cut out sweets, the goal was always to try and shrink.” A shift in perspective in her 20s – triggered by realising that feeling healthy, strong and capable were more important than being thin – saw Camilla start treating her body with love.

Camilla acknowledges the impact that social media plays in heightening existing societal ideals. “I receive messages from young people every day who are struggling to be comfortable in their own skin after being told they need to look a certain way to be successful or meet a partner,” she says,
a thought pattern she is trying to help fight with her fitness app Mila. “People also tell me they are put off exercise because they fear they don’t look the part. I think it is incredibly sad that we generally teach girls the most important thing they have to offer this world is the way they look. How they feel, what they like doing and their dreams are only important if they also fit what is considered the beauty standard.”

Game plan

Unsurprisingly, professional female athletes aren’t immune to these pressures either. When
a teenage Sarah Glenn honed her passion for cricket – a game which is set to return to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 – body image crept onto her mind thanks to social media. “While this sport is my focus, I’m also conscious of how I’m perceived while playing,” says the Derby -based England cricketer. 

Sarah speaks of the pressure from her social media news feed to have a particular body shape. “There are those online who have edited their picture or altered their appearance in real life,” she says. “However, these impossible standards apply to anyone – but particularly when it comes to sport, when you need to fuel your body properly so that it’s as powerful as it can be.” This is a mindset Sarah has embraced with the help of in-house nutrition and psychological support through the England and Wales Cricket Board, and by opening up to family and friends when she’s struggling.

Meanwhile, weightlifter Emily Campbell has maintained a healthy body image by always keeping her eyes on the prize. “When I first got into sport, I actually wanted to put on muscle and weight to become strong and healthy – which I know is the opposite to a lot of women,” the hard working athlete from Nottingham explains to LK. Emily won a silver medal at the last Olympics in Tokyo and is going for gold in Paris. “I feel grateful to have grown up in a sporting environment where it was about being the best rather than what size you are. In fact, it wasn’t until I entered the media spotlight that I became aware appearance was even a consideration.”

“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not right if it’s movement you enjoy – besides it’s fun to PROVE PEOPLE WRONG”

Positive moves

Developing healthy body confidence is a particularly important skill to master – and the evidence underlines the power of simply getting moving. “There is research on the link between frequent exercise and an increased positive body image,” says Eloise Skinner, a psychotherapist and fitness instructor, who points to evidence published in the Psychology of Sport and Exercise journal. 

How physical activity nurtures self-esteem is something Team GB rower Helen Glover has experienced herself. “Since I first got into sport aged ten, I’ve been immersed in the idea that a body that’s fit for purpose is secondary to looks,” notes the two-time Olympic world champion. “The times in my life when I’ve been least involved in sport – I’ve been most concerned about body image.”

Helen is also insistent that there is no ‘right’ way to look while doing any particular activity. “I’m a walking testament to this as I’m technically too short to be a rower,” she shrugs. The fact that ‘real’ sport (rather than what you see on Instagram) fosters an inclusive environment is particularly evident at the Olympics. “Every single shape and size is celebrated,” she says. “I would love to take every little girl into the Olympic Village.”

The coverage of women’s sport on TV screens – and also its presence on magazine covers and in advertising campaigns – has slowly started to increase in recent years. “Representation is so important – allowing people to be inspired by others who look just like them,” agrees Emily. “It’s encouraging but we still have a long way to go.”

Winning advice

Building body confidence starts with your head, boxer Shannon Ryan explains to LK. “I focus on really getting my mental state in a good place to be able to perform better and not worry about how I look,” reveals the boxer from Watford. “The right people will accept you for you.”

This sentiment is echoed in Kate’s championing of body reflexivity – the idea that our body is for us and nobody else. “It helps us reframe the goals we have for our bodies in healthier and more productive ways – for example, improving flexibility in my hips for myself rather than trying to get hip dips,” Kate says, alluding to the viral fitness trend. “It liberates me from aesthetic self-criticism in a way I find powerful.”

Similarly, Eloise says lean into the sensation of exercise rather than how it looks to others. “Practices that emphasise full-body awareness are great, like yoga or swimming,” she suggests. A similar approach can be taken towards fuelling your body for fitness. “I try to think about how a nourishing meal energises me for training and how good my performance then felt,” explains Sarah.

The work of self-love continues after cool-down. For Shannon, it’s about writing down what she’s grateful for and reciting positive affirmations in the mirror, while Emily keeps her social media feed inspiring. How about finding the initial confidence to first set foot on the gym floor, court, track, pitch or field? “Find a way to move your body that you enjoy so that you see it as a tool rather than an art project,” recommends Camilla. “Don’t overcomplicate things – it could be a five-minute walk.”

Finally, don’t dismiss the power of sport. “I still relish the accountability, element of competition, guaranteed fun, confidence boost, the ability to take your mind away from worries and learning to be graceful at both winning and losing,” says Sam. It’s a sentiment echoed by Helen who insists you do belong: “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not right if it’s movement you enjoy – besides it’s fun to prove people wrong.”