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This Olympic Swimmer Used Her Period As a Teachable Moment

You may not have heard of Fu Yuanhui before today but the likelihood is you will hear a lot more about her following comments she made at the Rio 2016 Olympics which have earned her praise around the globe.

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After finishing fourth in the women’s 4x100m medley relay on Sunday, the Chinese swimmer was absent while her teammates Lu Ying, Shi Jinglin and Zhu Menghui were being interviewed. “I feel I let my teammates down”, she told state broadcaster CCTV.

Asked whether she was suffering from stomach pains, the 20-year-old swimmer said her period had started the previous day.

However, others reportedly accused the swimmer of lying about being on her period as they were confused as to how she could have gone in the water while on her period due to the fact tampons are largely unused in China, some of which is due to the myth tampons will take away women’s virginity by breaking the hymen.

According to Shanghaiist (via Huffington Post), Fu was asked whether her stomach was hurting by an interviewer, to which she replied, “My period came last night and I’m really exhausted right now.” .

We’re still not 100% sure why there’s so much taboo surrounding periods, but people like Fu Yuanhui speaking candidly and openly about menstruating should hopefully lift any stigma still attached to something that is completely natural.

‘It is a normal physiological phenomenon, so why can’t we mention it? “Fu Yuanhui is awesome!” But menstrual health in China differs greatly from the United States-a report cited by BBC says that only 2% of Chinese women use tampons. However, this may be about to change with the launch of the country’s first brand of tampons.

Continuing, however, Fu said that she felt that she still didn’t perform as well as she could have.

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This is not the first time Fu has gained attention for being open with the media about how sports affects athletes’ bodies.

Fu Yuanhui speaks to a reporter after competing in the 4x100-meter medley relay this past Saturday