This kind of article always makes me feel depressed. I think "disordered eating" is even worse in gymnastics, because the girls do much more "flying through the air" and don't have to look glamorous and romantic the way skaters do. I got very anxious about gymnastics at one point and became much less enthusiastic about the sport. I think it was about the time that the Chinese girls started to excel in it, and so many of them look like actual children that I felt I was participating in something that used child labor. But skating is bad enough. I wish there were a way around this glorification of the pre-pubescent body in skating, but it certainly seems to be an inevitable result of the need to be light for jumps--or to be lifted by a partner.
One reason I kind of like Rachael Flatt is that she looks a bit less waif-like than the cliche of the figure skater. And, amazing irony, she's the best American jumper right now. I also like Alyssa because she looks like an adult and can therefore skate like one. (Her jumps are shaky not from her size, apparently, but from her nerves. I gather she jumps just fine in practice, poor girl.) Michelle Kwan is another one who conveys the idea of womanhood, not preteen childhood. Sasha is a sprite, of course, but she transcends sprite-ness to give mature interpretation of music.
While I think Jenny's estimate of 85% is a bit high, I'm sure eating disorders of one degree or another are widespread in elite skating.
One reason I kind of like Rachael Flatt is that she looks a bit less waif-like than the cliche of the figure skater. And, amazing irony, she's the best American jumper right now. I also like Alyssa because she looks like an adult and can therefore skate like one. (Her jumps are shaky not from her size, apparently, but from her nerves. I gather she jumps just fine in practice, poor girl.) Michelle Kwan is another one who conveys the idea of womanhood, not preteen childhood. Sasha is a sprite, of course, but she transcends sprite-ness to give mature interpretation of music.
While I think Jenny's estimate of 85% is a bit high, I'm sure eating disorders of one degree or another are widespread in elite skating.