On court, in the pool or pounding the track, they look like perfect physical specimens. Their toned, muscular bodies, straining in pursuit of titles, exude energy, determination and health.
But a growing number of women athletes are suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. An obsessive will to win combined with pressure from coaches to lose weight and the need for female competitors in sport to look attractive are being blamed.
Sports governing bodies, psychologists and experts in eating disorders warned yesterday that a generation of supremely fit women are risking brittle bones, fertility problems and even early death by becoming dangerously slim.
The sight of tennis player Daniela Hantuchova competing at Wimbledon with painfully skinny arms, legs and torso has focused attention on a problem which, although widespread, is rarely discussed in sport.
Experts believe that as many as one in five women who regularly take part in sporting activities, from members of running clubs to household names, starve themselves or deliberately vomit after eating to keep their weight down.
Like most sportswomen confronting issues related to food, Hantuchova denies she has a problem. The 20-year-old Slovakian, who is five feet eleven inches tall, admits that she is well below her ideal competitive weight of eight stone and eight pounds, and has lost a significant amount of weight over the past year as she has risen from 39 to eight in the world rankings.
Nigel Sears, her British coach, recently voiced concern about Hantuchova's visible and dramatic weight loss. But he too denies that she is anorexic. 'She is fit and strong but is burning off more calories than she is taking in,' he said. 'Of course this is a sensitive issue for young girls. They see fashion items which to wear they must not be a couple of pounds overweight.'
'Around 10 to 20 per cent of female runners at elite level are worryingly thin,' said Carole Seheult, a clinical psychologist who has treated sportswomen at all levels with eating disorders. 'This is a much bigger problem than is currently recognised. A lot of coaches feel that the lighter you are, the faster you're going to run. But unless that's coupled with the nutritional needs of the athlete, damage can be done.'
According to Steve Bloomfield of the Eating Disorders Association, people involved in sport, especially women, are far more likely to have an eating disorder than the rest of the population. 'Middle and long-distance running, cross-country skiing and cycling seem to have the highest incidence,' he said.
'But there's also a correlation between aesthetic sports like swimming, diving, gymnastics and skiing, where you're judged on your appearance as well as your talent, and female competitors having eating disorders.
'It's quite easy to end up starving yourself,' he added. You might lose a few pounds, then a bit more and a bit more, until eventually you no longer have enough energy left to compete properly.'
UK Athletics is one of the few sporting bodies in Britain which has taken steps to identify and tackle the problem, which generally affects girls in their teens, says technical director Zara Hyde Peters.
'I've come across cases of women skipping meals altogether and calorie counting so much that they end up starving the body of essential nutrients', she said.
Charlotte Dale is a classic example of the type. The 19-year-old from Whitstable, Kent, is the reigning European junior cross-country champion and is widely tipped as 'the next Paula Radcliffe'. Unusually, she has spoken openly about the fact that three years ago she went through a long, gruelling battle to beat anorexia, which saw her weight plummet to just four stone.
Her condition was so severe that she had to miss a year of running and schooling, and she hopes that by speaking out she will encourage other teenagers to seek help.
Psychologists cannot agree whether sport causes women to lose an unhealthy amount of weight, or whether sport simply holds an attraction for females who already have, or are most likely to develop, an eating disorder and have a strong desire to be the best they can be at any activity they take up. People with an eating disorder, and those drawn to sport, are often perfectionists, say experts.
The EDA wants sport to do far more to help female participants suffering from what is a mental illness. 'Coaches are the key,' said Bloomfield.
'Too many don't understand and will drive people so hard that they end up too thin to win.'
