​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (2023)

It's not awkward — really.

​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (1)By Elizabeth Narins

​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (2)

Parading around an Olympic ice rink with the entire world watching is stressful enough on its own — but doing your thing in a skimpy costume while you're on your period takes balls an extra brave set of ovaries.

​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (3)

(Video) Winter Olympics 2018 | Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period

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Luckily, Team USA figure skater Mirai Nagasu didn't have to deal with her monthly flow during this year's Winter Games — although it was a close call. "I had my period on the way to the Games," says the 24-year-old.

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​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (4)

That's not to say she's never hit the ice during that particular point of her cycle. "It's really not that big of a deal. You just stick a tampon up there," she says, adding that exercising on the ice during her period tends to be therapeutic. "Periods can induce cramps for me, which I find exercise helps [alleviate]."

​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (5)

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She likens cramps to an elite athlete's muscle soreness — both suck, but you get used to them. (After all, what's the alternative?!)

Mirai adds that she's not much of a leaker, which lets her focus more on nailing her triple axels than worrying about bleeding through her skating outfits. "Panty liners are super helpful if you just want to protect your underwear," she says.

And although it's never happened to her, Mirai acknowledges that the risk of leaking is ever-present — but not to let it get to you: "You just have to pretend like it never happened."

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​Olympic Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu on What It's Like to Compete on Your Period (6)

Elizabeth Narins

Senior fitness and health editor

Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.

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(Video) I Trained Like An Olympic Figure Skater

Videos

1. Chapter 1: Teen Champion (A Mental Health Conversation With Mirai Nagasu)
(MGH Child Depression Program)
2. I Trained Like an Olympic Figure Skater for 30 Days (THE JOURNEY)
(Cathy Ding)
3. ICEPod Episode 20: Mental Game in Action: US Olympian Mirai Nagasu
(Inner Core Edge)
4. Surya Bonaly's Backflip | Official Clip | Losers | Netflix
(Netflix)
5. Is it okay to figure skate when I'm on my period?
(IntermountainParents)
6. Hangout with Kimmie Meissner and Christina Gao
(U.S. Figure Skating)

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