Years of malnutrition and overtraining resulted in Bobby Clay not having a period until age 19. Photo: Paul Grover for the Telegraph The Telegraph Women's Sport Podcast — Periods
Bobby Clay didn't learn how to insert a tampon until her second year at university with the help of a YouTube video. “I was a 19 year old girl. I felt pathetic,” she says now. However, Clay had never had to study before.
A former middle-distance runner who won the 1500m at the 2015 European Junior Championships, Clay was confident she would reach the top in athletics, but her promising career ended before it began when she was diagnosed with osteoporosis at the age of 18. Years of malnutrition and overtraining also meant that she never had a period.
“I never had my period, so I didn’t even have to say the word,” Clay says. The latest episode of the Telegraph Women's Sport podcast. «Intermittent stops in sports were unfortunately considered normal, but I just never started.»
Horm replacement therapy later kickstarted her body, and she's had natural periods ever since — hence the tampon video — and now Clay wants her story to help other women. In the end, the lack of periods should not be considered the norm in sports and should be a cause for concern.
Dr. Emma Ross, women's health and performance expert at The Well headquarters, says in a podcast: «You don't have to look very far back to see a time when it was considered normal for athletes not to have periods during pregnancy. I train very hard. And in fact, some athletes saw this as a badge of honor. They're like, «Yeah, I train so hard and I'm so light that I missed my period.»
“Basically, our periods come because it tells us that our body is healthy. Thus, our periods are a vital part of health and absolutely must be celebrated. The reason we don't get our period or we don't get our period at puberty is a sign that something is going wrong. And in active women, in athletes, this can often be due to the fact that we do not eat well enough. We don't want athletes to come to this. We need to re-educate the whole system about how important a healthy menstrual cycle is.»
Clay won the 1500m. at the European Junior Championships in 2015. Credit: Getty Images/Ian MacNicol
Only six percent of the scientific research on sports and exercise is done exclusively on women, but knowledge about how the menstrual cycle affects athletes is growing, and Clay believes sports bodies can do more in this area.
“In fact, we have a lot of information and a lot of knowledge, but practically everything does not change as quickly as we gain knowledge,” Clay says. “Let's say there is a governing body for the sport: “We are going to hold a seminar for our female athletes. We are going to give them knowledge, but we are not going to cradle and support them, so that they really do something with this knowledge, they must take personal responsibility.”
“Now I think that athletes should take personal responsibility, but if you are a 14-15 year old girl, you have a duty to care. So let's not make this a tick exercise. It's a cradle around him, which makes personal tracking of your period almost cool — it's your superpower. Now I love tracking my period. If I had the information that I have now, things might have been a little different if I had been lulled to sleep at the same time.
It is important to note that it is precisely such open conversations that can help break the taboo around periods. Ross adds: “Whether we're trying to get off the couch and race in Parkrun or we're trying to chase the podium, we can get more out of our bodies if we get it right. And the only way to understand that is to talk about it, share your experiences and share what works and what doesn't, and just feel comfortable talking about women's bodies like they're normal, which they are.»
Listen to the new The Telegraph, The Telegraph Women's Sport Podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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