UO women track athletes alleging they felt victimized by the program's data-driven approach to weight and body fat percentage

Coach Johnson. 14 NCAA team titles.

One athlete says when she was given her first DEXA scan at Oregon, she already had not had a menstrual period in a year and a half. She says the nutritionist knew that.

The scan showed her body fat percentage at 16%. She was told by the nutritionist she should consider lowering it to about 13%. And while the suggestion came from the nutritionist, she is certain the message originated with the coaching staff.

“They always were talking together,” she says.

The university did not make available a nutritionist or nutritionists in response to a formal interview request.

The athlete consulted her personal doctor, who advised her not to try to lower her body fat percentage any further. The American Council on Exercise suggests an ideal body fat percentage for a female athlete to between 14% and 20%.

“He said I already was in a situation that was dangerous for my body and that I needed to make sure I got my period back,” she says.

After that, she says, she struggled mentally.

“I started worrying a lot about what I was eating,” she says. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to get too much bigger of a percentage. That was like a big, big issue.”

She was very careful during the day. At night in her apartment, though, she began binge-eating, which she says led to feelings of depression and guilt.

“That never had happened before I came to Oregon,” she says. “I never had any issues with food. I was completely fine. I loved food.”

At Oregon, she says, the yearlong monitoring became a trigger.

“You want to make sure you don’t put on weight, you become more paranoid and it gets worse,” she says.

She left after the school year, and still fights the temptation to binge.

Fat cells contribute to nearly 1/3 of estrogen levels in your body. Because of this, low body fat may contribute to low estrogen secretion and subsequent menstrual dysfunction. Low-calorie diets and inadequate nutrition that causes energy deficits are thought thought to be the primary cause of menstrual dysfunction rather than simple low body fat.

Play intermurals or run road races, but don't sign a D1 scholarship if you can't take being held accountable and expected to perform at a very very very high level.

albertsaladbar wrote:

Maybe a little extreme but these athletes know what they signed up for and honestly I wish my university was this serious. You go to a competitive power 5 school to win titles, not to play paddy cake. If you’re not serious then leave, but for some athletes this is what all that hard work in high school was for, a professional college atmosphere.

^^freshman logic at its finest. You have to be one of the fastest runners in the country to even get a call from the UO. body fat percentages at that level mean very little. They are doing everything short of doping for their competitive edge. This should come as no surprise with anything Nike or Oregon related.

YersiniaPestis wrote:

Play intermurals or run road races, but don't sign a D1 scholarship if you can't take being held accountable and expected to perform at a very very very high level.

You should have to post your mile PR before making comments like this on Letsrun.

Signed,

Former D1 athlete

MAGAtothebitterend wrote:

Imagine women in an East African training camp complaining about having to lose weight... and some still wonder why Americans will never be competitive?!

Here’s the thing. Many East Africans are naturally lean. You can’t force your body to a weight or composition that it cannot sustain. There’s a difference between a healthy lifestyle and trying to meet a goal of “lose 3 percentage points on your body fat or you can’t compete for us”.

ianove wrote:

I think you are confusing weakness with toughness. Women are not afraid to speak up about abusive practices.

Sorry, I think this DEXA thing is so stupid. It sucks all the joy, personality and spontaneity out of the sport. I don't know how else to scream this point from the rooftops but weight is not the end all or be all for performance. It's stupid that so many male coaches are fixated on it.

I agree with this and many other posts.

Personally, I find the whole "analytics" aspect of any sport really sucks the fun out of it. I don't watch sports to see who is the best at math.

Tegan wrote:

This is the beginning of the end for Division 1 Wrestling...

Wrestling has gone to a 'minimum wt class':

________

New wrestlers are now required to go through an initial weight assessment prior to either the first practice or competition (depending on the state association) to determine that wrestler’s minimum weight class, points out Pat Tocci, the director of administration at the NWCA. The wrestlers must pass a hydration test, then have their weight measured and body fat calculated. After the measurements are taken, the data is calculated to provide a minimum weight class at either 7-percent body fat for males or 12 percent for females.

________

Should something like this be done for college track?

hank jr wrote:

It sucks all the joy, personality and spontaneity out of the sport.

Personally, I find the whole "analytics" aspect of any sport really sucks the fun out of it. I don't watch sports to see who is the best at math.

I agree with these points but the joy and spontaneity of the sport at the highest levels disappeared 30 or 40 years ago when the sport became professional. The days of Roger Bannister and Arthur Lydiard are long gone ...

Our brave grand parents fought world wars at 18 years old. Bravies from 2021 call out meany coaches that get mad at them when they eat too much ice cream .

Next, we should abolish winners and losers in college sport! We can’t have that kind of culture around here! Not good for the young adults self esteem :/

robertosaladjar wrote:

Our brave grand parents fought world wars at 18 years old. Bravies from 2021 call out meany coaches that get mad at them when they eat too much ice cream .

Next, we should abolish winners and losers in college sport! We can’t have that kind of culture around here! Not good for the young adults self esteem :/

Exactly. Like these girls were forced to run there.

Actually none of the athletes spoken to was a distance runner. Sprinters and jumpers - Johnson's group.

under a bridge wrote:

There is a huge difference between acknowledging that body composition is a factor in athletic performance and performing periodic DEXA scans to make a certain body fat % a target as opposed to a result. Seems like most Oregon defenders are couching this as the former which is intellectually dishonest.

The DEXA scan FIXES more eating disorders than it creates because it tells you when you are at your ideal weight. That positive feedback is incredible because some people think the goal is to get as skinny as possible. Instead of women having to look in the mirror and judge themselves, the DEXA will say you are optimal and you don't have to worry about the mirror. You no longer wonder if you might run 1 second faster if you lost a half pound.

The DEXA will also tell women they need to GAIN weight if they are too skinny or unhealthy.

Feel free to provide any support at all for your bolded text. My guess is that is just an opinion that you wanted to share.

347893 wrote:

Coach Johnson. 14 NCAA team titles.

......achieved at any cost🤡

Angelo Pappas wrote:

Kvothe wrote:

College sports are not pro sports and should not be treated as such, even for athletes who could go pro. If the athletes want to train like pros that is on them. Things like weight, goals, performance should be individualized and set by the athlete. Good on these athletes for sticking up for themselves. The coaches should have treated it like a college sport and not like they're going to win the olympics.

Then go to a different school. There are hundreds of other options. Some people like this approach.

Do they tell recruits and their parents about this before they sign?

Yikes Yikes Yikes wrote:

That's not good. Hopefully this article ends the practice, but Johnson comes out looking pretty terrible.

“Track is nothing but numbers,” he says. “A good mathematician probably could be a good track coach.”

I'd argue the opposite. Pretty much anyone with a background in running could come up with a decent training plan, but what separates good coaches are their abilities to support and inspire athletes.

Somewhat disagree. Inspiration is fleeting. I would argue consistency is far more important. Many runners are already fairly consistent. A good coach would tailor a training block to his athletes needs. In order to do this, he should take a data driven approach based on numerous factors including current mileage, goals for performance, history of injuries, etc. Weight is something that should be considered in these factors as it is pretty essential to the entire force balance.

I would argue they probably should look to cycling and measure performance on power/weight (watts/kilo) as that is an easy way to tell if someone is performing at a high level or not. Harder to measure power without a power meter though.

Manbearpig15 wrote:

Give me a full ride to Oregon. You weigh and measure any time you want.

Ditto. You are being paid a lot for the privelege of running at Oregon. If you can't accept that you are overweight and need to tone up to be your best - then do not run in college.

When the last time I heard a guy football player complaining when his coach told him that he's overweight and needs to hit the weightroom.

I do not understand the current need for everyone to want something for free and then dictate what they will not do for that privelege,