Former Olympic synchronized swimmer Erin Wilson, standing poolside at the University of Toronto where she is currently studying to get her PhD in Abuse in Athletics.Hannah Kiviranta/The Globe and Mail
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Training and shaming
Re The Suspect Science Used to Push Aspiring Olympians to Starve Themselves (Dec. 28): I applaud The Globe for speaking plainly and openly about eating disorders in sport. The prevalence of eating disorders among Canada’s elite athletes is the thin edge of the wedge that will hopefully bring to light the rampant eating-disorder culture that exists in youth athletics starting at very young ages.
As a gymnast, from the age of nine I recall being told what not to eat and being shamed for how my body grew. I remember our parents being made complicit, promising coaches they would not feed us bananas or potatoes for fear they would make us fat.
When I was 14, I was told in front of my teammates that if I didn’t lose five pounds I would be withdrawn from a competition. I was five feet tall and weighed 104 pounds. Despite eating Cup-a-Soup and throwing out my lunch for two weeks, I only lost one pound and didn’t go to the competition.
Nearly every kid on my team engaged in some sort of disordered eating. The effects of all this lives with us. I am now 49 and left gymnastics long ago, but I have never owned a scale because it would take me back to being 14 and full of shame.
The Globe’s series confirms that little has changed.
Krista Knight Vancouver
As a sport medicine physician and president of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM), I know through my clinical experience that eating disorders are, unfortunately, not a new problem.
When I was a young track athlete, the expectations of leanness to enhance performance were whispered through the training practices; the pressures to comply came from many sources and were especially directed to female athletes.
Thank you for publishing the recent articles on eating disorders in Canadian Olympic athletes. There is a huge and continuing need for health care providers and sports leaders to work together for all sports and at all levels.
Cathy J. Campbell, MD, assistant professor of family and community medicine, University of Toronto
This blue orb
Re A Telescope to Answer: Are We Alone? (Editorial, Dec. 30): In praising the future revelations that are to be provided by the just-launched James Webb Space Telescope, The Globe’s editorial urges us to gaze up with awe. We should, instead, look down – with dismay – at an ever-increasingly ruined Earth. The concerned words of great naturalists such as David Suzuki and the recently deceased E.O. Wilson will hopefully push us into turning that dismay into productive actions.
Life on other worlds? A nice idea, but sustaining life on this blue orb is a far better notion.
Geoff Rytell Toronto
Are we alone? Probably not. But we must be alone in the folly of happily committing fortunes to space exploration while we self-destruct – that is the greatest “wonder down here.”
William Lambermont Toronto
Money for all
Re It’s Time For Ottawa To Seriously Study Universal Basic Income (Dec. 24): It is true that Milton Friedman supported the idea of a guaranteed basic income. However, he supported it as a replacement for much of the government-run welfare system, which he regarded (probably accurately) as inefficient.
I get the sense, though, that many advocates of a guaranteed basic income want to keep the current welfare system and just add the guaranteed basic income to it. It’s highly unlikely Mr. Friedman would ever have supported that.
Michael Olsen Kanata, Ont.
In his 2015 article “Guaranteed Income or Guaranteed Incomes,” Ken Battle of the Maytree Group proposed an alternative to a “big bang” guaranteed basic income. He showed that significant reductions in poverty can be generated by much less costly income-tested refundable tax credits targeted to specific groups. To illustrate, a significant enrichment of the Child Tax Benefit in 2016 helped reduce the child poverty rate by almost half between 2015 and 2019. Bill C-35, introduced in the last Parliament, proposed a similar enrichment of income support for persons with disabilities but died on the order paper when the 2021 election was called.
To use a phrase coined by Mr. Battle, this approach of “relentless incrementalism” seems much more likely to produce significant reductions in poverty than a policy that has been discussed for almost 60 years but never adopted as a continuing program in any country.
Michael Hatfield Ottawa
Warmth in Iceland
Re How We Heal Together (Folio, Dec. 24): Erin Anderssen’s article on the power of kindness reminded me of an experience I had in Iceland in the summer of 1985. I was a 28-year-old cycling on a desolate stretch of gravel highway. There was little to no traffic. It was cold and sleety, and my heart sank upon coming to a rise in the road where I surveyed the bleak landscape. As I stood there astride my bicycle, a car putt-putted from behind and stopped where I stood in my forlorn state. The car window rolled down, and a hand reached out with a cheese sandwich. No words were exchanged. The window slowly rolled back up, and the car went on its way. No sandwich has been received with greater gratitude. I finished my ride with a deep appreciation for how a small act of kindness could lift one’s spirit.
Jack Wilson Burlington, Ont.
Curtains for the arts?
Re Performing-Arts Sector Faces Carnage If Governments Don’t Step Up To Help (Life & Arts, Dec. 29): As the curtain lowers on Come From Away, bravo to Kelly Nestruck for once again raising the curtain on the desperate plight of arts and culture in Canada. But is anyone listening? While other countries’ governments acknowledge the vital importance of the arts by providing much-needed grants, Canadian artists are languishing with nothing being done to alleviate their suffering or give them hope for their future. Governments need to take a leaf from the Come From Away book and practise some kindness. Is that too much to ask for such an uplifting necessity as the arts?
Irene De Salaiz London, Ont.
Farewell, coach
John Madden will be remembered for many things, but one of my fondest memories will be his subtle insistence on self-reliance, especially by running backs. While football is often considered the ultimate team sport, a running back given the ball searches for support in the form of blocks and on occasion ends up floundering behind the line of scrimmage. When observing this as a broadcaster, Coach often delivered words that would eventually find their way into business culture and everyday life: Sometimes you just have to square your shoulders and head up field.
Mark Spurr Toronto
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