These were a few words slipped by Paula Badosa, on November 14, in an interview on a Spanish television channel, but they sounded like a word that, little by little, is released on a recurring evil. “The rules are a nightmare for players”said the Spanish tennis player before the Billie Jean King Cup, which took place in Malaga.
Until then, when a high-level athlete saw her competitiveness hampered by her rules, we modestly noted that she was “physically diminished”. The first to speak openly about it was Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui in 2016, after the Olympic Games in Rio (Brazil). Since then, there are few champions who, like French gymnast Coline Devillard or her compatriot handball player Estelle Nze Minko, dare to question the influence of the menstrual cycle on their physical performance. Rules have become a mainstream subject in society, but not yet in sports.
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Until now, studies on the effects of menstrual cycles on the bodies of athletes have remained too empirical. The National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep) has just published a survey to better understand them. “We knew that periods bothered many athletes, but we needed data on this prevalence”explains Carole Maitre, sports gynecologist at Insep.
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