Female athletes show mixed feelings about body size - but kindness to themselves may hold the key

When athletes step onto the track, the court or the gym floor, their performance is often what spectators see first. But behind the medals and the muscle lies a quieter struggle - how they feel about their bodies.

A new study from the University of Regensburg in Germany has offered a rare glimpse into that hidden world, exploring the relationship between female athletes, body image, and self-worth.

Its conclusion is both troubling and hopeful: while female athletes still consciously favour thinner bodies, their deeper instincts are less judgmental - and self-compassion may be one of the strongest protections against dissatisfaction.

The weight of expectation

For decades, sport - despite being held up as a healthy pursuit - has been entangled with appearance. From the revealing kits of gymnasts to the weight categories of combat sports, female athletes in particular have faced intense scrutiny not only for how fast or strong they are, but also for how they look.

Those pressures vary by discipline. In “lean” sports such as gymnastics, dance, and long-distance running, where lightness is equated with performance, athletes have historically been considered most at risk of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. In “non-lean” sports like tennis, volleyball or football, the assumption has been that athletes can compete without obsessing over body size.

The new study challenges that neat divide.

Testing conscious and unconscious bias

Led by Professor Dr. Petra Jansen, the team recruited 146 female athletes aged between 18 and 65, from both lean and non-lean sports. Each participant was shown photographs of women representing a spectrum of body mass index (BMI) categories - from very low to very high.

Athletes were asked two kinds of questions. The first were explicit: what do you think of this body type? Do you feel close to this person? Do you like them? These reflected conscious attitudes. The second test was subtler, designed to pick up implicit, automatic responses: how quickly did they associate an image with positive or negative words?

The results revealed a telling split. When asked directly, athletes - regardless of sport - expressed more positive feelings towards slimmer and “average” bodies, and less towards heavier ones. But in the implicit test, no such bias appeared. Their unconscious reactions were far more neutral.

In other words, when athletes had time to think, they echoed a thin-ideal narrative that pervades advertising, social media and, often, sport itself. Yet beneath that surface, their snap reactions weren’t as harsh.

The findingsIsuggest that cultural expectations around slimness are still deeply ingrained, but at a deeper level, female athletes may not automatically devalue larger bodies in the way we might assume.

Beyond sport type: no safe category

One of the most striking findings was that lean and non-lean athletes did not differ in their responses. Gymnasts were no more likely than footballers to rate thinner bodies more positively.

That runs counter to a wealth of earlier research suggesting that lean athletes, who train in environments where weight is closely monitored, face greater risks of disordered eating.

Jansen’s study suggests the picture may be more complex. The dividing line may not be between sports, but within individuals – shaped by personal experience, competition level, age, and above all, how an athlete feels about her own body.

The power of self-compassion

If attitudes towards other people’s bodies didn’t predict an athlete’s body satisfaction, what did? The researchers found three main factors:

• Actual vs ideal weight gap – the further athletes felt their real bodies were from their “ideal,” the less satisfied they were.

• Risk of eating disorders – higher risk was linked with lower body image satisfaction.

• Self-compassion – athletes who were kinder to themselves, less judgmental, and more forgiving of perceived flaws reported greater satisfaction with their bodies.

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That last finding is perhaps the most important. Self-compassion, the study shows, can act as a powerful buffer against the pressures of sport and culture.

It’s not about denying the pressures athletes face - but self-compassion offers a way of coping – to accept the body not just for how it looks, but for what it does. This echoes wider psychological research linking self-compassion to resilience, healthier eating behaviours, and lower levels of shame.

Some interventions - from mindfulness training to therapy programmes - already weave self-compassion into efforts to prevent eating disorders.

Why it matters

The implications stretch far beyond elite competition. As more young women take up sport, they inherit a landscape where performance is celebrated, but appearance is still policed. Social media adds another layer of comparison, as athletes are not only judged by coaches or judges, but by thousands of unseen followers.

The Regensburg study suggests that body image pressures are not confined to the sports traditionally considered risky. Instead, they reflect broader cultural patterns - and may demand broader solutions.

Sport can be both a risk and a protective factor. It depends on the environment and the mindset. Promoting self-compassion could tip the balance towards the positive.

A shift in priorities

In recent years, some sports organisations have begun to address these issues. The Norwegian gymnastics federation, for example, has introduced guidelines to reduce weigh-ins and focus on performance rather than appearance. Campaigns promoting body diversity in sport have gained traction, though critics argue progress is slow.

For athletes themselves, the study’s message is clear: learning to value their bodies not just for how they look, but for what they achieve, may be the healthiest path forward.

As one athlete who took part in the study put it: “I know I’m supposed to look a certain way in my sport. But when I think about what my body allows me to do - the hours of training, the competitions - that’s when I feel proud of it.”

The Regensburg team call for future research to explore interventions directly - could structured self-compassion training improve body satisfaction in athletes? If so, it could help shift the narrative of sport away from numbers on a scale, towards resilience, wellbeing, and respect for the body in all its forms.

Because, as this study suggests, the real victory may not be on the podium - but in the quiet battle over how athletes see themselves.