The Sunday Mail
Amelia Earhart is flying solo across the Pacific Ocean when something horrific happens. The American looks into the camera and screams “Oh no, my period!” before losing control of her aircraft and dropping into the ocean. Never to be seen again.
It did not happen in real life, of course, but is a scene in the American sitcom 30 Rock. And writer Tina Fey is not mocking Earhart’s disappearance in 1937, which led to the first fema
le aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic being declared dead ‘‘in absentia’’, but is poking fun at the effect menstruation is perceived to have on women.
But has what many describe as ‘‘the last taboo’’ now been broken?
Britain’s number one tennis player Heather Watson blamed “girl things” on her first-round defeat at the Australian Open this week and ever since there has been non-stop chatter about monthly cycles, stomach cramps and their impact on professional athletes.
Are periods a problem for elite sportswomen? Does it affect performance? We talk to women’s marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, physiologist Professor John Brewer, and gymnastics coach Helen Potter.
British middle-distance runner Jessica Judd says her running times can vary by 15 seconds depending on what stage she is at in her cycle.
“I ran 3 000m at the national championships in 9 minutes 15 seconds and felt really tired,” explains the 20-year-old. “One week later, at the Birmingham Grand Prix, I ran the same distance in nine minutes flat with no extra training. It’s scary that it can affect you so much because it is the difference between first and last.”
But not everyone suffers the same. On the morning of Sunday, 13 October, 2002, Paula Radcliffe’s period started. Late and inconvenient.
It was the day the Briton was to line up for the Chicago Marathon. It was the day she went on to break the world record.
“I tried to put it out of my head and not let it become an issue,” recalls the former marathon world champion. “It’s one of those things that can become a bigger issue if you let it.
“I broke the world record so it can’t be that much of a hindrance, but undoubtedly that’s why I had a cramped stomach in the final third of the race and didn’t feel as comfortable as I could’ve done.”
Former world badminton champion Gail Emms used to take the contraceptive pill to control when her period would occur, while Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the most successful athlete in Paralympic history, tried contraceptive injections to stop her periods.
Paula Radcliffe would take the pill for three weeks at the start of her season to change the timing of her periods, ensuring they did not fall during a major championship or a big race, but there isn’t a one-pill-fits-all solution.
“I got light periods so I probably only got eight a year so it wasn’t that much of a problem,” explains Baroness Grey-Thompson.
I didn’t want to be on the pill because, depending on what you’re on, it can cause problems with water retention.
“I did have injections twice to stop my periods, but you have to have them every three months and if you’re not in the right place to have them it can be a nightmare to try to balance.”
Emms believes Watson should have been better organised: “As an athlete my body has to be in the best condition it can be to perform and if that means sorting out my period, it means sorting out my period.”
But former British number one Anne Keothavong does not believe it is so easy for a tennis player to “meddle with Mother Nature”.
“As a tennis player, there’s a tournament going on virtually every week of the year, it’s a long season,” Keothavong reasons.
The 18-year-old finished a disappointing fifth and failed to qualify for the semi-finals. A distraught Judd could be seen crying on the track. The medics “screwed up”, says Paula Radcliffe.
“They gave her the wrong thing,” explains Radcliffe. “I knew from experience that norethisterone made things a 100 times worse, Jo Pavey knew that, others knew that, but it seems that nobody within British Athletics had written that information down.
“They tried it because that’s what medical science was saying you should do in that situation.
“After that I intervened and told them not to give it to Jess, or any other young athletes, and advised Jess on what I used to do.
“Doctors in sport are often men and they don’t understand. You need more women who understand to give more evidence, have more studies done, because it’s only a small group of elite sportswomen who have tried to do things to control their period.”
British Athletics says it is addressing this, and has recently introduced a number of initiatives — although it admits improvements can still be made.
It told BBC Sport its medical staff were “very much aware of the added challenges concerning menstrual issues around performance athletes”.
“Each case is looked at individually and it is the aim that any particular strategy is trialled well in advance of competition,” it added. — BBC Sport.
