I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike | NYT Opinion
Mary Cain’s male coaches were convinced she had to get “thinner, and thinner, and thinner.” Then her body started breaking down.
At 17, Mary Cain was already a record-breaking phenom: the fastest girl in a generation, and the youngest American runner to turn professional. In 2013, she was signed by the best track team in the world, Nike’s Oregon Project, run by its star coach Alberto Salazar.
Then everything collapsed. Her fall was just as spectacular as her rise, and she shares that story for the first time in the Video Op-Ed above.
Instead of becoming a symbol of girls’ unlimited potential in sports, Cain became yet another standout young athlete who got beaten down by a win-at-all-costs culture. Girls like Cain become damaged goods and fade away. We rarely hear what happened to them. We move on.
The problem is so widespread it affected the only other female athlete featured in the last Nike video ad Cain appeared in, the figure skater Gracie Gold. When the ad came out in 2014, like Cain, Gold was a prodigy considered talented enough to win a gold medal at the next Olympics. And, like Cain, Gold got caught in a system where she was compelled to become thinner and thinner. She developed disordered eating to the point of imagining her own death.
“America loves a good child prodigy story, and business is ready and waiting to exploit that story, especially when it comes to girls,” said Lauren Fleshman, who ran for Nike until 2012. “When you have these kinds of good girls, girls who are good at following directions to the point of excelling, you’ll find a system that’s happy to take them. And it’s rife with abuse.”
We don’t typically hear from the casualties of these systems — the girls who tried to make their way in this system until their bodies broke down and they left the sport. It’s easy to focus on bright new stars, while forgetting about those who disappeared. We fetishize these athletes, but we don’t protect them. If they fail to pull off what we expect them to, we abandon them.
But Mary Cain’s story isn’t over. By speaking out, she’s making sure of that.
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What steps can be taken to hold corporations and individuals in power over athletes accountable for their actions and decisions?
In a recent New York Times Opinion piece, former track and field star Mary Cain boldly shared her experience as a young athlete who was pushed to her limits, and ultimately felt broken by Nike, one of the world’s largest athletic companies.
Cain, who became the fastest girl in America at the age of 17, entered into a contract with Nike to join their elite training program. However, she quickly found herself in a deeply unhealthy environment where weight was constantly monitored, and she was pushed to run through injuries and push her body to its physical limit.
The pressure was relentless, and the consequences were severe. Cain’s menstrual cycle ceased for three years, and she suffered from suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Despite these challenges, her coaches pushed her to lose weight by focusing on her food intake, which led her to develop an eating disorder.
Cain’s experience is a reminder that even though we may idolize athletes and their abilities, the culture surrounding elite sports can be deeply damaging. Companies like Nike may consistently preach about their commitment to empowering women and promoting athletes’ well-being, but the reality is that many corporate interests prioritize winning and profits above all else.
As Cain puts it, “I was continually told, ‘We want you to be the best version of yourself.’ But the reality was that they wanted me to be the best version of a marathoner: thin, and whittled down to a flyweight.” This reveals a core dissonance between a corporation’s goals and the well-being of young athletes who are vulnerable to manipulation and abuse by those in power.
Cain’s story is a wake-up call for those who consume sports without considering the realities of the people behind the performances. As viewers and fans of sports, it is our responsibility to question and challenge the toxic culture that pervades the industry, and to demand more from the companies and individuals who hold power over these athletes.
In the end, the message of Mary Cain’s story is that the corporate culture surrounding sports must change, in favor of protecting the health and well-being of young athletes. Only then can we celebrate and support their incredible achievements, without the cost of their physical and emotional suffering.