The AFL has ditched the divisive fat measuring test amid concerns over body shaming but each sport has its own approach
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Leisel Jones was no stranger to skinfolds testing and weigh-ins. The
Australian Olympic gold medallist remembers in stark, humiliating detail the clinical process, undertaken by male coaches in full view on the pool deck. She was a teenager then, training at the Queensland Academy of Sport and enduring experiences she says contributed to the depression she suffered throughout her swimming career.
“Whenever I have to stand on the pool deck in my togs, listening to my body being discussed like it’s an engine and not the arms, legs, thighs and stomach of a teenage girl, I am self-conscious and miserable,″ she wrote in her autobiography, Body Lengths. “We were always getting weighed in, always being judged. We were actively encouraged to skip meals to lose weight. It is irresponsible and terribly damaging.”