Athletes are not for the weak of heart. Not everyone is cut out for the demanding dedication required to train for competitions. This female athlete shared a strong message about the moment and demonstrated her dedication to her sport.
Emma Pallant-Browne is a British athlete who participates in events such as triathlons, duathlons, and aquathlons. One of her most recent accomplishments as a renowned athlete is her silver medal from the 2022 World Long Distance Triathlon Championships. She won a gold medal at the European Championship and two medals (silver in 2017 and bronze in 2022) in another prestigious competition called Ironman 70.3.
Emma placed fourth in her most recent multisport challenge. A few days after she won the Dualthlon World Championship, she competed in the PTO Tour European Open in Ibiza.
She took part in the Ibiza event. She was photographed at the event, just like many other athletes, and the pictures were then posted to the official page.
Xavier Coppock, another athlete, saw something in the photo that others might have missed. What he observed later became a hot topic of discussion.
Pallant-Browne was running while wearing a blue and pink bikini. She had a red stain on her photo that was posted to the event because she had her period during the race.
Coppock said, “It’s not the most flattering photo of Emma; surely they can crop it a little better,” after viewing the picture.
Emma Pallant-Browne chose to embrace the incident rather than feel ashamed of it, using it as a teaching moment for everyone in the sports industry and beyond.
She responded to Coppock’s comment right away, stating that she had a regular period and that sometimes, even the most absorbent tampon would not work for longer than three hours. She politely thanked him for his concern and clarified that many female athletes had to deal with the reality of getting their period while competing.
To emphasize her point, she posted the disputed photo to her personal Instagram account a few days later. Honoring the incredible female athletes and the equally remarkable men who support them. She remarked, “I’m humbled by the amount of messages I’ve received about the unglamorous reality of racing on your period, from both men and women.”
She continued by describing the picture’s background. “I raced in a swimsuit because I overheat and faint in hot races, and my body temperature is also higher when I’m on my period,” she wrote. For the cooler races, I have a full-length suit in dark colors, but we were experimenting with lighter hues to create a cooling effect. My bike position has changed, and I now roll more forward, even though the bottom and back are dark (lesson learned for next year suit design).
“A lot of the photos you can’t see anything, so at aid stations, you can just pour water over yourself. If that doesn’t work, you end up with one picture like this, but the idea of editing it means there’s something wrong with it,” she added.
I am sharing this because there is nothing wrong with it, even if you wrote to me to say that 99 percent of the women you know would be embarrassed by it.
She went on to say, “It’s natural, and I now see it as beautiful because I had eating problems as an endurance runner growing up, when I didn’t have my period.
Therefore, if you have a picture like this, keep it, treasure it, and think back on how you handled a difficult day because you might be able to use it to help someone else in the future.
She picked her attire because it gave her the highest level of comfort and safety while competing. She wished to spread the word that something as normal as a period shouldn’t make women feel ashamed.
“The more barriers we can remove, the better, as this is a women’s sport.” You end up with a picture like this after a long career, but the thought of editing it implies that there is a problem. I share it because it’s a natural thing and there’s really nothing wrong with it,” she wrote.
The renowned athlete concluded her stirring speech to other women by saying, “So if you have a photo like this, save it, cherish it, and remember how you performed on a tough day because one day you might just be able to help someone else with it.”
