The world champion heptathlete spoke frankly about the body image issues she endured when she was young
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has opened up about the body image issues that plagued her as a teenager growing up in Liverpool. In an interview with The Times to promote her memoir, ‘Unbroken: My Journey from Despair to Glory’ the Olympic heptathlete spoke about the pressures she faced as a young athlete, with boys’ comments about her appearance taking a heavy toll on her self-image.
Katarina, 31, was born in Woolton, and attended St Julie’s Catholic High School. It was there that she met and became close friends with award-winning actor Jodie Comer, known for her roles in the BBC series Killing Eve and recent Hollywood film The Bikeriders.
Katarina is the reigning world heptathlon champion, having shown remarkable form in 2023, securing her second gold at the World Championships while running a personal best in the 800m. In this summer’s Paris Olympics, she did Merseyside proud by winning her first Olympic medal, taking silver after beating several season best records and even achieving a couple of personal bests.
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In her interview with The Times, Katarina talked about her friendship with Jodie Comer and how she embraced the world of sport while Jodie followed her dreams into acting. She said: “At school, my friend Jodie was ‘the aspiring actress’ and I was ‘the athlete’, and that gave me a real identity when I needed it.”
Katarina told the newspaper that once they entered a mixed sixth form, boys began to make comments about her “hectic thighs”. She explained: “The trend then was for girls and boys to be skinny; girls especially didn’t want to be seen as masculine or muscly.
“They didn’t want anything going against them when they were discovering the reasons certain people got fancied. The way boys see you was so important. I was already struggling with being 6ft tall, so I paid a heavy price for the body that goes with athletics.”
According to Katarina, this pressure to look a certain way has an impact on girls’ willingness to continue sport, with 65 per cent of young women choosing to give up sport by the end of puberty. “There are these unspoken codes for women,” she argued, “Why would you want to be strong and powerful?”
Even as a young teenager, Katarina disliked the way she looked. “I was drowning in self-loathing,” she told The Times. She reportedly refused to wear skirts and embarked on crash diets, “examining her body in the mirror before competitions”.
She added that it was “horrible for me but also a nightmare for my mum. I’m saying, ‘I’m fat,’ and even though it’s not true, no one can convince me otherwise.”
For Katarina, exposing her body in public to participate in sporting competitions was her “worst nightmare”. She explained: “Walking out into a packed stadium wearing just your bra and knickers, with millions more at home watching on TV. I mean, exposing your body like that has nothing to do with competing and yet, the first time you do it, it’s the greatest challenge of all.
“I’ve been exploring why I was so tough on myself and on my body. When I was younger I would say to it, ‘Why can’t I change you? I hate how you look.’ Then later, ‘Why aren’t you working? I’m begging you to work with me.’ Now I’m nearer to, ‘I understand you; I’m with you now.’”
Katarina has now resumed training after taking three months off following her exploits in Paris. “My body has forgotten what it feels like, so I’m hurting everywhere,” she told The Times. Her book will be released on Thursday, November 21.
