To think that female athletes could be in shorts rather than arse-cheek-revealing pants?

I think wearing less aerodynamic clothing is more of a worry for most people in competitive sports than leaking from a heavy period. Many women time things to avoid periods during a major competition. Others simply don't have heavy periods and can make do with tampons etc. The chances that any of the women you see in an Olympic competition are having heavy periods is reasonably slim and while they should have a choice of clothing, all of the other women should not have to dress more conservatively to match.

Periods are a pain and will interfere with your gold medal chances anyway. Let's not condemn all women to lesser sporting achievement by expecting them to dress conservatively all the time just in case. By all means consult and offer choice on colour, fabric and shape. But don't expect to see sportswomen in period proof clothing whenever they compete. That doesn't reflect their reality.

My country's top pole volter is a happy, bubby, young woman who doesn't look at all upset with what she is wearing - and I've seen her wearing the same thing whenever she competes, so it's nothing to do with the Olympics. How do you know whether athletes are happy or not with what they wear - have you discussed it with any of them?

Why don't you people who obviously only ever wheel yourself out to watch sport every four years at the Olympics just keep your opinions to yourselves!

Women are choosing to have their arse cheeks hanging out at Sainsbury’s and everywhere else these days it seems. Why should the Olympics be any different?

Sick of seeing acres of arse to be honest, YANBU.

@Oftenaddled thats absolutely brilliant and cogently expresses what the athletes I know say.

This always comes up, especially for volleyball. Most countries give athletes a choice in what version of the uniform to wear.

Oh FFS here we ago again. Policing female athletes’ kit choices. If an athlete prefers briefs she wears briefs. If she prefers shorts she wears shorts. Same with singlet vs crop top.

A little secret: athletes are proud of their bodies and many like to show them off, a great set of abs and massive quads are good for intimidating the other competitors.

As for the tan lines, yeah training kit and race kit is different, no one is putting the miles in round the streets of Doncaster in March in a crop top and briefs, unsurprisingly.

Here is American pole vaulter Katie Moon on this year's Olympic kit

But why do you think people haven't considered this?

How do you know what the athletes have on under their short shorts?

Isn't it unlikely that they haven't considered and worked on this scenario?

Plus a lot of training time isn't spent trying to perform to optimal event standard. There'll be different sessions focusing on different aspects of the sport at a time- stamina, speed, strength, technique. There often isn't the benefit of optimal performance kit for much of the training, and not enough to justify its cost and limited longevity. Normal range of quality sports kit will usually suffice.

I know, and I have followed this in tennis too. It is really interesting to hear women acknowledge that this affects their performance. Some veterans have chimed in to say the same. Wimbledon relaxed its colour rules in response to feedback from women in recent years, having tightened up for a decade or so before.

But what I am seeing on this and the gymnastics thread is people saying oh no, women can't possibly actually want to wear these clothes, when the evidence is, simply, that women want a choice. And that given a choice, they will frequently choose clothes that some women on this site don't approve of.

I had no idea how many prudish people there are in the world. I couldn't care less what they wear, and had I been fortunate enough to be a world class athlete would be more than happy to wear the "humiliating and demeaning" uniform.

Incidentally I saw one of my country's runners wearing a couple of options - one was a one piece outfit, the other tiny knicker like pants and a crop top. Guess which one she was planning to wear to race it? If she can cope, why can't you?

I'm guessing some of you on this thread aren't actually sports fans or you would have seen women wearing these type of clothes beforehand. Maybe find something else to watch which is more suited to your sensibilites.

I've never been in the habit of flashing a lot of skin, but I will never police what others wear. What on earth gives random posters on MN the right to decide what athletes, or indeed anyone, should wear?

The swimmers and divers will shave, removing body hair is meant to reduce resistance (and when we’ve lost two golds by 0.02 of a second, every tiny bit does count!)

This is exactly what I think.

We have even had “ object” rejected as a definition because they move.

Sexualisation of women in this way is demeaning. If it’s about the athletic ability that’s all we need to see.

@Oftenaddled athletes themselves have been trying to talk about it more- about how it makes performance worse and the struggles with heavy periods and racing or spending hours infield on a field event. Eilish Mccolgan, Jazmin Sawyers etc have been trying to get more athletes to talk about it so they're less taboo.

If ultra short shorts were performance enhancing the men would wear them

People speak such nonsense to excuse the sexualisation

Or they prefer to wear longer shorts

Heaven forbid they go against the grain

We haven't had Adidas do the GB athletics kit for a while. The women's steeplechase will show how much choice the athletes have as Aimee Pratt's kit of choice is always vest and shorts (sometimes baggy, sometimes knicker). I don't think any other of the current track female athletes usually wear vests for international (obvs some marathon runners do and I would say the throwers but we didn't accept any of their invites!)

What is this worry everyone has about other women's periods?

I see hundreds of women in gymwear, in white / tight / light leggings, in lovely delicate floaty summer dresses every day. In recent days, I see many in swimwear.

I do not shudder and avert my eyes for fear they may have their periods. I presume that they are aware of this possibility and managing the situation. The fact that we do not tend to see blood soaked athletes or protruding pads suggests this is indeed the case. Though if I did see a hint of a tampon string etc I would think well done that woman.

What on earth is this squeamishness?

Athletic wear is made to wick away sweat, to help women to be aerodynamic, to give freedom of movement. At the Olympics it is also to reflect a national image and in many cases relates to sponsorship or marketing opportunities. For all of these reasons, women's clothing will be well designed to avoid straining and leaking.

Well no because in case this has escaped you, men have cock and balls thrrefore running in briefs is not comfortable or practical for them.

@AGoingConcern I don't think anyone should wear longer shorts unless they want to.

I think it's a shame that Jessica felt uncomfortable at the start of her career as she felt pressure to wear what everyone did, and Holly should not have had to battle to get kit she feels comfortable in.

As a teen I wore cropped top and knicker shorts to run. I felt comfortable in them. It should be an easy option for every single athlete to wear what they wish.

I looked at the track athlete earlier thinking what amazing bodies they had. They've probably delayed their periods for performances issues. I didn't feel uncomfortable seeing them in what they choose to wear.

No one here is saying the athletes views are to be ignored. No one is saying the athletes shouldn't be given options. No one is saying we shouldn't support the athletes' being empowered to dress their bodies in a way that they feel is best. In fact, I'm saying exactly the opposite.

Ennis-Hill hasn't spoken out against athletes wearing skimpy kit. Arguing that women should wear longer shorts because it would please OP or you sitting at home on their couch to see more modest outfits is absolutely not the same as advocating for athletes to have more control over their own bodies and competition wear.