Tanith Belbin is one of the foremost ice dancers in the world. She and her partner, Ben Agosto, won a silver medal in the 2006 Olympics, but Belbin looks back on those Olympics with something other than joy. Shes embarrassed by photographs that show spindly legs and a jutting chest bone.

Four years later, according to Juliet Macur's Feb. 16 New York Times article, Belbin has overcome a history of unhealthy eating practices, and she and her partner are hoping for an even more impressive result in the 2010 Olympic Games:

She can thank one of her coaches, Natalia Linichuk, for that. ...

Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov, who were the 1980 Olympic ice dancing champions, began coaching Belbin and Agosto in the summer of 2008, when Belbin and Agosto left suburban Detroit for a fresh start.

Linichuk took one look at the 5-foot-6, 105-pound Belbin and said, "You need to gain 10 pounds." She said more muscle would help Belbin skate faster and more fluidly. ...

As it turned out, Linichuk also ended up saving Belbin from a problem that has long plagued figure skaters: disordered eating. Often not as severe as eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, disordered eating involves irregular eating habits that can be fueled by a distorted body image. Belbin said she had struggled with those issues since puberty.

Labels: binge eating, self-esteem, self-image_issues, purging

Posted By: Aspen/CRC