DC14-011 January 17, 2014
Top British sports women say body image insecurities rife in sport
BT Sport survey delivers stark confirmation that body image issues are a worrying problem within women's sport, with 80% of the athletes stating that they feel pressure to conform to a certain look and body type
89% say that they empathise with the feelings of insecurity expressed by the former swimmer and Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington.
An overwhelming number feel these issues are not just confined to sport, with 97% claiming the problem stretches to women in wider society.
Victoria Pendleton said I kind of accept it as part of being a female athlete, and it's something that I regard as part of my job. It's a harsh reality that you don't have to be just talented, physically, you have to also be prepared to change the way you appear.
According to striking findings released today by BT Sport, body image issues are a serious problem for female athletes.
Supporting the recent admission by double Olympic Champion Rebecca Adlington that she was insecure about her body, an overwhelming percentage of female athletes confessed they feel similar pressure.
80% of athletes that responded to a survey conducted by the BT Sport website stated that they feel pressure to conform to a certain look and body type. The athletes also expressed almost unanimous support for the former swimmer, with 89% of respondents saying that they empathise with her feelings of insecurity over body image.
The survey also revealed that over two-thirds of the respondents believe the media and public are more concerned with how a sportswoman looks than her achievements.
Over three-quarters confessed this pressure had directly influenced their behaviour, with diet (87%) and exercise and training regimes (71%) affected. One athlete acknowledged it had affected her diet to the point that she developed an eating disorder, while another admitted she had prioritised striving to be thinner above her performance within her sport: Sometimes it has meant my diet no longer is optimum for performance but becomes optimum for looking slimmer/thinner.
A number of athletes feel the added pressure of investing in their appearance as well as their performance. Sophie Christiansen, the Paralympic dressage triple gold medallist said: The most noticeable pressure is my appearance in terms of hair, make-up and contact lenses. I enjoy dressing up but my disability means that this is hard for me and so I actually have to pay a hair and make-up artist when I go to high profile events.
According to a staggeringly high percentage of the athletes this mentality is far from confined to merely sport, with 97% claiming the problem stretches to women in wider society.
One athlete said: This goes completely beyond sport and just body image. This is to do with how women are viewed in society full stop.
Among the principal causes of these issues, the media emerged as one of the biggest culprits, with 66% believing it to be behind the problem. I think the worse thing is the media's disproportionate criticism of body image. A picture of a celeb with a red circle round the tiniest bit of cellulite is just totally stupid, said one respondent.
Another athlete added: My sister had an eating disorder for 12 years. It's tragic and so many young people suffer and I believe this is partly due to what people perceive as beautiful because of what we see in the media.
It also emerged that some of the pressure comes from within sport, with 61% saying fellow athletes contribute. Other internal causes cited were coaches and national governing bodies. One former athlete said: My coach was very critical and bloody minded about us athletes being the right weight but constantly changing the goal posts and judging what we had to eat.
Social media was also blamed, with 42% attributing the problem to having to look good in photos on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
A further reason for the widespread issues is the pressure put on the athletes by themselves, with 14% saying it came from within. Downhill bike racer Rachel Atherton commented: [It comes from] feeling that I do not deserve to call myself a professional athlete if I am not the owner of a stick thin body with visibly bulging muscles attached, zero body fat or gorgeous skin that isnt weathered from the elements.
Speaking in reaction to the survey results, recently retired three-time Olympic cycling medallist Victoria Pendleton told BT Sport she feels the pressure to look good comes hand in hand with being a sportswoman. I kind of accept it as part of being a female athlete, and it's something that I regard as part of my job, she said. It's a harsh reality that you don't have to be just talented, physically, you have to also be prepared to change the way you appear.
80% of respondents feel under pressure to conform to a certain type of body image.
66% of respondents cited the media as a source of pressure closely followed by 61% citing fellow athletes.
76% said that the pressure to present a certain type of body image had influenced their behaviour with 87% saying that it had influenced their diet and 71% saying it had influenced their exercise regime.
67% of respondents believe that the public and media values their looks over their achievements in sport.
BT Sport's body image survey was sent out to elite female athletes, para-athletes and those just retired from swimming, football, cycling, tennis, golf, athletics, snow sports, cricket, equestrian, triathlon, hockey, rugby, volleyball, badminton, boxing, canoe, basketball, rowing, gymnastics and weightlifting. Results are based on responses from 110 athletes from across those sports. The survey was conducted anonymously, although some a
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
DC14-011 January 17, 2014 
