A former Olympic figure skater and UNC Ph.D. student [Rachael Flatt] is working to fight eating disorders

[Aussie Willy]

What lovely news. She looks really happy.

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

Awe! What a cutie, and what a romantic way to spring the engagement! (Eric hired a photographer to pose as their real estate marketing photographer to capture the moment!) I'm glad for her!

 

[skatesindreams]

What lovely news. She looks really happy.

Seconding this!

 

[Coco]

They are adorable.

 

[B.Cooper]

Congrats to Rachael on her engagement! 4 photos: https://twitter.com/RachaelFlatt/status/1140616361812475904

ETA that Jax can be seen in Rachael's IG photos 5 & 6: https://www.instagram.com/p/Byz72SXhuym/

@Sylvia ...perhaps an updated title for the thread to include the engagement announcement?

 

[PDilemma]

This is sad,
"I had body image issues of my own because I had people walk up to me saying 'well you look like you could drop 20 pounds' when I'm like 15 years old, and that's really inappropriate."


when you look at Flatt at age 15....that would have been her debut at the US championships in 2007 perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hvYIYkNjfM

And you know those comments probably came from USFS officials... :-(

She was never fat or even overweight for a skater and never had 20 lbs to lose. She has no waist and had a bit more for boobs than most skaters have and had a lot of muscle in her quads (which was why she had the jumps, so judges shouldn't be critiquing that!). And her team never figured out costuming that flattered her shape. I think all of that put together made people think she was bigger/heavier than she ever was.

I couldn't stand watching her to be honest. She had no good lines, little expression (what there was looked overly planned and acted), and her programs always felt rushed. Of course, the latter seems to be a consequence of the point system, so there is that.

 

[paskatefan]

Congrats to Rachael & her fiance!

 

[Rock2]

Really great initiative - needs to be led by someone like this who has been there and understands.

Better treatment is an excellent initiative. Down the road there's another angle. We have many athletes feeling this pressure. Some make smart choices, some make unhealthy choices. Dissecting this phenomenon (psychologically and environmentally etc) to gain preventative insights would be another incredible step -- stopping it before it starts, if we can.

I go back to athletes like MB Marley who are pretty adamant that she felt no external pressure to be thin. They claim there are elements of their nature -- excessive drive, need to control everything -- that were the foundations. That's an example in skating.

Progress of any kind is awesome. Wish her well.

 

[Sylvia]

@Sylvia ...perhaps an updated title for the thread to include the engagement announcement?

I probably should have created a separate thread for Rachael's engagement news but decided to revive this thread because I think her current research/academic projects are !

Only an Admin. can modify my original thread title at this point (I am not one of them).

Congrats to Rachael on her engagement! 4 photos: https://twitter.com/RachaelFlatt/status/1140616361812475904

It was an incredibly exciting weekend for [Eric] @eiwashita and I! We closed on our first home here in North Carolina! Our pup, Jax, will now have a great yard to chase squirrels and then...... this happened! We couldn’t be more excited for a lifetime of adventures together!!

ETA that Jax can be seen in Rachael's IG photos 5 & 6: https://www.instagram.com/p/Byz72SXhuym/

 

[Tinami Amori]

and they are already a family https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxe-ghbBTBm/
with a baby.. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm9l6NuBKkJ/

 

[B.Cooper]

I probably should have created a separate thread for Rachael's engagement news but decided to revive this thread because I think her current research/academic projects are !

Only an Admin. can modify my original thread title at this point (I am not one of them).

@Sylvia..... Here is the latest on the research coming out of the lab Flatt is in at UNC, collaboration across many different labs....publication in Nature Genetics that came out this week.

from Rachael's Twitter feed....

https://twitter.com/RachaelFlatt/status/1150852413026426881

Genome-wide association study identifies eight risk loci and implicates metabo-psychiatric origins for anorexia nervosa - Nature Genetics

Genome-wide analyses identify eight independent loci associated with anorexia nervosa. Genetic correlations implicate both psychiatric and metabolic components in the etiology of this disorder, even after adjusting for the effects of common variants associated with body mass index.

www.nature.com

"Genome-wide association study identifies eight risk loci and implicates metabolic-psychiatric origins for anorexia nervosa."

 

[jeffisjeff]

That paper sure has a lot of authors!

 

[Sylvia]

Posted in the Blog of the University of North Carolina Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders today (August 19, 2019):

Eating Disorder Risk in Elite Athletes

by Rachael Flatt, UNC Clinical Psychology PhD Student As a former elite figure skater, I had the honor of competing internationally for Team USA, culminating in my performances at the 2010 Olympic …

uncexchanges.org

Excerpt from the end:

... But as more athletes step forward to share their experiences with an eating disorder, their stories highlight the importance of raising awareness, improving education, and changing the sport culture to promote body positivity and health over athletic success at all costs. Moving forward, the global sports community has an opportunity to be the model for celebrating the strength of all bodies and prioritizing both the physical and mental well-being of each athlete. By doing doing research in the area and serving as an athlete representative on U.S. Figure Skating’s Athlete Advisory and Sports Sciences & Medicine Committees and on the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, I hope to bring positive changes to the sports community.

ETA that Rachael tweeted the link today with this title: "Celebrating the Strength of all Athletes Bodies and Prioritizing the Physical and Mental Well-Being of Elite Athletes": https://twitter.com/RachaelFlatt/status/1163806885096521730

 

[tylersf]

She should be a featured speaker at USFSA or even ISU events, or better yet serve on an USFSA/ISU committee to improve skater health and safety!

 

[nimi]

According to this NYT article, Rachael successfully defended her master’s thesis on eating disorders in athletes in March.

Disruptions Add to Risks for Athletes With Eating Disorders (Published 2020)

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted eating and fitness routines, potentially compounding the stress of those, including athletes, who have eating disorders.

www.nytimes.com

The whole article is worth a read, here's a little excerpt:

The stay-at-home orders that have shuttered classrooms, businesses and athletic facilities can be triggering for those with eating disorders. Cynthia Bulik, the founding director of the University of North Carolina’s Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, said the program experienced an uptick in requests for treatment evaluations in mid-March as schools and athletic facilities were shutting down.

One of Bulik’s students is the Olympian Rachael Flatt, a retired figure skater who in March successfully defended her master’s thesis on eating disorders in athletes. In accordance with self-distancing mandates, she spoke on a teleconferencing app with an audience of three committee members, including Bulik.

All her research, Flatt said, leads her to believe that this is a particularly precarious time for athletes with inflexible, or unhealthy, relationships with food.

ETA: Ooops I just noticed there's already a thread about the article...
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...e-gold-anton-olsson-and-rachael-flatt.107205/