As the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics draw to a close, Horsham-based female personal trainer, Becky, has made an observation about the commentary and body image…
I’m writing this balanced on my sofa, rather than using my comfortable desk chair and split keyboard, because I’m watching Winter Olympics coverage whilst the Games is still on. I’ve watched a fair amount already, but there’s no such thing as too much in my book, and I’ve made an observation.
Generally, there has been a lack of discussion of what athletes and their bodies look like, and I’d like to talk a little more about that…
What do professional sportspeople look like?
Well, it very much depends which sports you watch! There’s no denying that certain physiques tend to suit certain sports, and I’ve spoken about that before. Often, female and male rugby players are fairly large people, with a lot of muscle and stamina. Typically, sprinters of all genders are smaller in build, but still with a lot of lower body muscle to power their fast movement. And on and on it goes.
There are exceptions, but normally you could guess what someone’s sport is if you were told they were an Olympian but offered no other context than what they look like.
And, along with expectation, tends to come judgment. I grew up watching a lot of sport, and remember hearing – particularly sportswomen – a lot of criticism of athletes’ physiques. Whether it was a commentator remarking negatively upon how difficult someone might be finding the playing conditions, or an athlete facing direct scrutiny for having changed shape, there was a sense that this was a free-for-all arena in which to pass judgment on the bodies participating in competitions. Happily, increasingly this practice is frowned upon…
Paris 2024: a different message
With the social media era in full swing, and the Games again welcoming spectators (for those with short memories, the previous summer Games wasn’t just delayed by a year, but also held behind closed doors; the 2022 Winter Olympics were held on time, but also behind closed doors due to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), there was a lot of conversation around athlete physiques… but the main message that I saw was that all bodies are capable of being athletic, and that there isn’t a specific look for all Olympians.
It felt like the tide had turned a little, and this was a welcome change. Very sadly, the positive work has quite quickly come undone. Since the Paris Games, awareness and usage of GLP-1 medications has increased significantly, as has increasing conservative sentiment (particularly politically), and so again, we are in an era where “thin is in”, and this time, it comes with hashtags.
Winter Olympics: what’s different about body image?
I may just be living in a bubble (and I don’t watch ice dancing), but I’ve seen very little body image chatter throughout these Games. I’ve watched a lot of coverage, and I haven’t even heard an athlete’s height mentioned very often, never mind their physique in terms of body fat distribution or musculature.
I’m going to state the obvious here: a lot of winter sports involve the wearing of coats. Shocker, I know. But there’s also a high percentage that also necessitate helmets – the kind that also cover a person’s face. And there are many events for which tight clothing is worn, as well as the baggier variety, so I started to pay closer attention.
And whilst athletes often discuss their training – I’ve seen social media clips of bobsledders in gyms, and an article on the surprising amount of strength and conditioning training that the Great Britain curling athletes undertake – there’s still very little commentary on what their bodies look like.
I realized that I mostly found it refreshing and heartening – the focus is well and truly on performance; how the athletes do what they do, and explanations of their physical endeavours, rather than what they look like whilst competing. And, not to sound like the media can’t win, but it is also a slight shame. Because so much can be achieved when a conversation is had. Perceptions can be changed. People can be encouraged to believe that their body is also an athletic body, no matter what it looks like. We can talk – as we did during last year’s women’s rugby world cup – about it being ok to wear makeup and hair bows if you choose, even if those things aren’t an expectation within your sport.
On balance, I’ll happily take what I’ve noticed: sport being the centre of the conversation, and what someone’s body shape is being kept well out of it.
Finally – an important reminder: the Olympics was just a warm up; the 2026 Winter Paralympics kicks off on 6th March and runs until 15th March – make sure you tune in and watch those athletes, as you have for their Olympic counterparts.