A Chinese Swimmer Fu Yuanhui admitted that her team who came 4th in the Swimming relay performed poorly due to her starting her menstrual cycle the day before.
She has been praised for her tacit admission and bravery to talk about something that most female athletes avoid.
“I don’t think I performed very well today. I feel I let my teammates down,” a visibly pained Fu told state-broadcaster CCTV in a brief poolside conversation following the race.
Asked whether she was suffering from stomach pains, the 20-year-old swimmer said her period had started the previous day.
“It’s because my period came yesterday, so I felt particularly tired – but this isn’t an excuse, I still didn’t swim well enough,” she said.
Chinese social media were effusive in their praise for the Swimmer with some even saying they didn’t know that female swimmers could swim during their period.
Accorcing to the Guardian UK, one user of Weibo, China’s Twitter wrote. “Our Ms Fu dares to say anything,”
“I really admire Fu Yuanhui for swimming while she was on her period – women can be affected during their periods, especially with period pain,” wrote another, according to the BBC.
“She felt guilty for coming fourth, but Fu Yuanhui we’re still very proud of you,” the fan added.
A third fan wrote: “It is a normal physiological phenomenon, so why can’t we mention it? Fu Yuanhui is awesome!”