Considering female specificity for high-level athletes

Several studies or programs are currently aiming to better understand female physiology in order to adapt the preparation of high-level athletes. But this is a faltering start.

Do the female champions who will once again make us dream of the Paralympic Games have training that is as optimized as that of their male colleagues? Some thoughts on this question that is too little considered, with Géraldine Zamansky, journalist at Health Magazine on France 5.

franceinfo: This summer, female athletes pointed out the lack of adaptation to their specificities, often due to a lack of knowledge about the impact of the menstrual cycle, for example?

Geraldine Zamansky : Yes, the development of research on menstrual cycle symptoms is the priority put forward by 40 great American athletes. This follows an in-depth exchange they had with expert doctors and their Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the results of which are published in the major journal BJ sports. These athletes are calling for work on the impact of hormonal variations on training and the performances obtained. Because knowledge in this area is still very limited, as on their entire physiology. The initial finding of this survey is daunting: only 6% of all scientific articles devoted to sports performance focus solely on female champions. And they are always underrepresented in mixed studies, as Julie McLeery of the University of Washington explains.

Do these athletes lack so much information and support?

Yes, some do not even know that the cycle length must be stable and especially that an interruption of periods is worrying. They were often already doing high-level sport at the start of their puberty. Julie Mc Leery also recalls the taboos that persist on this subject. This is what she and her colleagues are trying to change with this survey intended to stimulate research. It is also about disseminating as much as possible the little knowledge already available, whether to athletes, coaches, physiotherapists and doctors who surround the champions. This summer, remember, Brittany Brown, bronze medalist in the 200 meters, dedicated her victory to women suffering from endometriosis: she herself was only diagnosed after 10 years of suffering, despite all her calls for help.

And France, how does it support its champions?

This is slowly progressing, for example with Empowher, a program led by Juliana Antero, a researcher at INSEP. For months, her team followed a hundred high-level athletes to record their performances, their hormonal changes, and many other parameters. First conclusion: certain phases of the cycle allow for increased intense training and others, on the contrary, require greater recovery. It is therefore a whole, more adapted, to improve performances without forgetting, insists Juliana Antero, better physical and mental health thanks to fewer “forceful passages”. We also remember the sparks of gymnast Simone Biles, this summer, she who was one of the first to raise these questions in Tokyo.