By Zac Neel
DeAnna Price, Michelle Carter, Raven Saunders. If you are a fan of track and field, you probably know their names. If you care about body-shaming in women’s sports, you need to know their message.
These women are just some of the handful of female athletes who have taken to speaking out about the issue of body image in track and field, and all sports for that matter.
Each competes in a throwing event in their sport, and next to the distance runners or sprinters that they are often compared to, these women are different. Not petite; they’re strong. Not toned; they’re powerful.
And they are proud of it.
Price has always been a little bit bigger. It wasn’t until about two years ago that she finally started to accept it.
While competing in the hammer throw as a freshman at Southern Illinois University, Price noticed herself starting to gain more weight. She would constantly look in the mirror, uncomfortable with the person that stared back at her.
“I remember my freshman year, I went from 200 pounds and I dropped down to 170,” said Price. “And with that, my mark went from 62 meters down to 54.”
It was then that Price realized that if she wanted to compete at a high level, she had to turn her back on what society was telling her to look like.
“You have to be comfortable with yourself and comfortable with your body image,” Price said. “I have my whole life to be skinny, but right now, I need to love myself to be able to do what I want to do. If you are a little bit bigger, but you’re throwing it far, it really doesn’t matter at all.”
Tackling a separate part of the same overall issue, Carter, who holds the American record in the shot put, has been vocal about the stigma placed on women who wear makeup while competing. She thinks along the same lines as Price, in that it is OK to feel comfortable with who you are.
“I’m not going to change what I think I should look like and go by anybody else’s standards,” said Carter. “I believe that if you go out and look your best, you’re going to feel your best, and in turn you will do your best.”
At the beginning of her career, Carter often felt pressure to change her ways. It was then that she spoke out.
“For a couple years as a professional, I kind of questioned myself,” said Carter. “But at the end of the day, you’re a woman first. I’m not going to let anybody stop me from doing what makes me feel good.”
Saunders, a shot putter at Ole Miss who won the 2016 NCAA Championship and holds the NCAA record, has always known that she would have to walk the line of competing at a high level and being accepted by society.
Ever since she first picked up a shot, her need to gain strength and muscle was inevitable.
“A lot of girls turn away from shot, especially because they’re like ‘Oh, I don’t want to become muscular’ or ‘I don’t want to get buff,’” said Saunders. “We really have to break that down because in order for a lot of us ladies to be successful in our sport, we have to do things differently and be able to accept it.”
In an attempt to encourage young girls to do what they love, no matter what they may be pressured to do, Saunders said that she first had to ditch those stigmas and accept herself for who she was.
“I knew that I was going to get bigger and things like that,” she said. “But what can I say, I love throwing the shot. I am happy with who I am.”
As Price transitions from the collegiate stage to the national landscape, she hopes to use her bigger platform to let her voice be heard.
“I’m really just hoping to inspire younger generations and let them know that it’s OK to be strong – it’s OK to be bigger,” said Price. “You have to be able to be strong and look into the mirror and say ‘I am a solid, beautiful woman, and I can do this.’”
Recently, Price has taken to traveling to high schools and talking to younger women about their looks. She wants to encourage them to be unique. Many of the girls she spoke to, Price said, were visibly uncomfortable.
“They’re worried about how they will fit in their prom dress. They are just uncomfortable with who they are,” said Price. “I want to go to these girls and let them know that it is OK. People will fight against you because you aren’t in the cookie-cutter shape, but stand out and be excited about who you are.”
Even after her decision to be happy with who she was and stop obsessing over her weight, Price still struggled to accept the way she looked, no matter how hard she tried. With the media constantly pushing women to look a certain way, Price had a hard time feeling comfortable.
She would constantly look at old photographs of herself, missing the figure she used to hold.
“It took me until my junior year to get used to this,” said Price. “Sophomore year, I was still a little bit worried about my weight – just not feeling comfortable.”
Now she looks at herself and thinks about how lucky she is to say that she has competed in world championships and is going to the Olympics. Being comfortable with her body image is part of what has helped her get there.
“It’s OK to be different. If everybody was the same, it would be kind of boring,” she said. “I am comfortable with who I am. It took a while, but I have never been happier in my life.”
