What the Olympics Can Teach Women About Being Body-Positive

Regardless of whether you’re into sports, one of the beauties of the Olympics is the huge range of body types displayed by female athletes. Tiny-yet-powerful gymnasts, turbo-muscled sprinters, and robustly-built shot putters are only a few of the variations of world-class competitor you see.

While the media usually idealises certain bodies in women and men alike, we all know that women have an especially high ideal to live up to. The Olympics are one of those rare chances to see female athletes of all shapes and sizes on television, online, and in the public’s consciousness.

It also gives people all over the world the chance to see cool sports other than the typical football, like fencing, water polo, and judo!

Heavyweight judo gold medallist Idalys Ortiz. Via laprensasa.com

Unfortunately, not all of the visibility is positive. The British press has already commented on situations like that of eighteen-year-old British weightlifter Zoe Smith, who weathered insulting comments about her looks after the BBC featured her in a documentary on female weightlifters.

How did Zoe react? She fired off a well-worded response on her blog, showing how empowering self-confidence can be.

British weightlifter Zoe Smith. Via metro.co.uk

We here at Zaggora think Zoe’s a huge inspiration and love the pride she has in her body and in her sport. And even though the negativity directed at her is disappointing, we all—women and men—can learn something from her about staying positive and focused on our goals.

Do the Olympics make you look differently at women in sport?

For more positive inspiration, check out the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation’s fantastic ‘Go Girl’ campaign, which aims to get more girls involved in sports.

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