Advertisement

The worst kept secret in figure skating finally faces a reckoning

"I just wanted someone to ask, 'Are you okay?'"

Getty Images; Adam Peck, ThinkProgress
Getty Images; Adam Peck, ThinkProgress

Adam Rippon made Olympic history in Pyeongchang by being the first male figure skater to compete while out. But it’s his openness about another subject that might have a bigger impact on the figure skating community at large.

In a conversation with Karen Crouse of the New York Times, Rippon said that as recently as 2016, his daily diet consisted solely of three slices of whole grain bread tapped with a smidge of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread, and three cups of coffee each sweetened with six packs of Splenda.

“I looked around and saw my competitors, they’re all doing these quads, and at the same time they’re a head shorter than me, they’re 10 years younger than me and they’re the size of one of my legs,” Rippon said.

While Rippon was the first male figure skater to openly discuss eating disorders in recent years, he joined a small but growing chorus of voices who are finally talking publicly about what has long been an open secret in the sport.

“It’s treated as a joke. There’s this thought that if it’s not broken or bleeding it’s not serious.”

This year in Pyeongchang, the women’s figure skating event was missing two of its brightest rising stars from Sochi, American Gracie Gold, who finished in fourth in the 2014 Games, and Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya, who dazzled the world as a 15-year-old in Sochi when she skated a flawless free skate to “Schindler’s List” that won Russia the gold medal in the team competition.

Advertisement

Last fall, Lipnitskaya announced her retirement from figure skating at the age of 19, and that she had been in treatment for anorexia.

“Anorexia is a 21st-century illness and it’s fairly common. Unfortunately, not everyone can cope with it,” Lipnitskaya said. “My only regret is that I didn’t do this before.”

Just months later, Gold announced that she was taking time off from competition to be treated for depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder. In 2016, Gold talked the press about her weight after a bad performance.

“You just don’t see overweight figure skaters for a reason,” Gold said. “It’s just something I’ve struggled with this whole year and in previous seasons. It’s just difficult when you’re trying to do the difficult triple jumps. It’s something that I am addressing, but it’s obviously not where it should be for this caliber of competition.”

This is nothing new, of course. Skating legend Nancy Kerrigan, who is producing a documentary about eating disorders in athletics called “Why Don’t You Lose 5 Pounds?” recently revealed that she had an eating disorder back in the early 1990s, during her rivalry with Tonya Harding.

Jennifer Kirk (third from the left), on the podium with Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan, and Amber Corwin at the 2004 U.S. championships. (GETTY)
Jennifer Kirk (third from the left), on the podium with Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan, and Amber Corwin at the 2004 U.S. championships. (GETTY)

According to a Norwegian study, figure skaters are at an extremely high risk for eating disorders. That certainly mirrors what Jennifer Kirk, a former top U.S. figure skater who was the 2000 World Junior champion, 2002 Four Continents champion, and a bronze medalist at the 2004 U.S. championships, experienced during her time in the sport.

Advertisement

Kirk retired in 2005, when she was only 21 years old, in part because of her eating disorder. After a few years away from the sport, she went public with her story, telling the Huffington Post in 2010 that she estimated 85 percent of figure skaters had eating disorders.

“I couldn’t believe, looking back on it, how prevalent eating disorders are in figure skating,” Jennifer Kirk told ThinkProgress by phone this week.

Kirk said when she was performing on the “Champions On Ice” tour, she commonly heard fellow competitors, trainers, and even coaches say,  “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” Skaters would take laxatives for breakfast, and then openly joke about it. During performances, she says it was common for skaters to go to the bathroom and vomit in between the opening number and their individual performances. She and her roommate would go through practice all day long without eating a thing, then after a few days of this, find themselves hiding out in the food court eating everything in sight.

“You have this secret,” Kirk said. “Kids are looking up to you, and yet you realize, if a child was doing this to their body I would feel so horrible.”

While Kirk has received a tremendous amount of support from her peers since opening up about her battle, she’s been frustrated to see how little has changed over the years. She’s a coach, and far too often, she hears other athletes, trainers, and even fellow coaches talking cavalierly about weight.

“It’s treated as a joke,” Kirk said. “There’s this thought that if it’s not broken or bleeding it’s not serious.”

Advertisement

Figure skating is so vulnerable to eating disorders because it’s a sport where women wear little and men wear tight clothes, and then spend extended time on ice alone, all eyes affixed on them. Also, because of the intricate movements and the jumps, Kirk said it’s incredibly obvious to skaters when they have gained even just a pound or two. And much like gymnastics, it’s a sport where athletes are encouraged to suck up the pain, and stay silent. They’re supposed to listen, follow directions. Nobody wants to be labeled as needy or problematic, especially while climbing up the ranks.

It’s a sport rife with teenage sensations; figure skaters usually learn jumps and technique before they hit puberty. Then, as their body begins to mature, and as younger competitors begin to nip at their heels, Kirk said it is much more common for skaters to go to the extremes to try and control and shrink their bodies, rather than adjusting their technique and talents to fit their more adult bodies.

“Eating disorders are a real disease. Understanding that is the first step.”

It’s a sport where the quest for thinness has become so glamorized and normalized, that it impacts every person in its orbit — athletes, coaches, trainers, choreographers, parents. Nobody is immune.

Kerrigan hopes that her new documentary will help everyone in the community come to terms with the culture.

“Eating disorders are a real disease. Understanding that is the first step,”  Kerrigan told ThinkProgress via e-mail. She hopes that the film will help everyone who surrounds an athlete — including coaches, parents, and even friends — realize that even the most innocuous, well-intentioned comment can trigger trouble if it’s not properly handled.

“People are not aware of how it can start and what the repercussions can be,” Kerrigan said.

Increasing awareness is a huge step in the right direction. But there also need to be more resources dedicated solely to education, nutrition, and mental health. Kirk says those need to be as much a part of every figure skating program as injury treatment and jump technique.

Rippon told the New York Times that he’s in much better condition now than he was two years ago, because he has been working with a nutritionist who is employed by the U.S. Olympic Committee, and has learned that he needs to properly fuel and nourish his body in order to have the strength, endurance, and mental focus to train and execute on the highest level of the sport.

The voices are few and the steps forward are small, but for the first time in eight years, Kirk can actually see progress being made. The only way to sustain it is for athletes to keep talking, and for coaches to keep giving them space to do so. When she was hurting, she knows that it would have helped just to have someone notice.

“I just wanted someone to ask, ‘Are you okay?'” she said. “You can’t fix the problem, but you can guide the conversation.

“Eating disorders thrive on secrecy.”