Athletes face criticism of their looks too, but their stories are even more inspiring

At the mention of the word “athlete” we necessarily imagine an athletic person with perfectly defined muscles and the absence of any flaws inherent in the average person. The body of an athlete is more likely to be associated with a statue of Apollo than with any of us. But sport promises strength, coordination and agility, not perfect form.

American photographer Howard Schatz has created a project that explores how a particular sport affects the bodies of professional athletes. He takes pictures of Olympic athletes’ bodies to show that athletes can look very different when they achieve their highest achievements: skinny or massive, tall or short, light or heavy.

Howard Schatz’s project began in 1987. Today, the collection of photographs is growing and includes more than 150 portraits of athletes who have become champions. Their bodies are in excellent condition despite how different they are from each other. This was and still is the main objective of the project – to show the differences of human bodies depending on the activity.

This project is a struggle against society’s established notions of beauty. Howard is convinced that every body has its own unique genetic code and there is no point in fighting it.

However, not everyone shares Howard’s beliefs, and athletes often face criticism of their appearance, which sometimes even outweighs athletic achievements.

Teresa weighs more than 100 kilograms, but does an amazing job with her role on the team – defending the goal of her national team.

All fat people should feel pride like I do. We’re not in any way inferior to other people. Yeah, I may have a harder time running the 100-meter dash, but I can still do some great things in sports.

Teresa Almeida.

Elisa Casanova

The captain of the Italian national water polo team is very familiar to fans of the sport – in the 2010s the strategy of the opponents for a match could be based on the presence or absence of Elisa in the lineup.

With a height of 190 cm, she was half a head taller than any teammate and twice as big. According to official information, her weight during the years of playing for the Italian national team was about 100 kilograms, which caused a lot of negative comments and jokes on the network. However, Elisa’s authority as a water polo player is undeniable: she was the captain of the national team for many years and one of its brightest members.

If the ball gets to her, it’s almost certainly a goal.

Olga Belyaeva, Russian water polo player

Eliza finished her career in 2012, but still stayed in her favorite sport and also became a doctor of economic sciences.

Sean Dingilius-Wallace

The Tokyo Olympics was a special one in terms of embracing human nature, with a transgender athlete from New Zealand competing, as well as an unconventional swimmer from Palau.

Sean didn’t win a medal, but he became one of the most famous athletes of the Olympics. During the swimmer’s swim, Spanish commentators made ambiguous jokes about the athlete and laughed delicately when they saw him on the track. Thousands of social media users rose to the athlete’s defense.

The swimmer looks little like a classic muscular athlete and weighs 93 kilograms, but in his home country he is an absolute champion, and it was he who was considered the best candidate for the games in Tokyo. It should be said that this is not the first Olympics for the representative of Palau – in 2016 he participated in the games in Rio.