China's Favorite Swimmer Stuns Nation by Discussing Period on TV

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Everybody’s favorite Olympian, Fu Yuanhui, has swum back into headlines following a live post-race interview where she openly spoke about how her period affected her swimming.

The interview, conducted following the women’s 4x100m relay, saw a CCTV journalist question Fu’s three team mates before the camera panned down to Fu, hunched over in pain behind a barrier. When asked whether or not she was experiencing stomach pain Fu replies “Yes. Actually I started my period yesterday.”

Fu went on to say that her period had left her feeling weak and tired, before emphasizing “it isn’t an excuse. I just didn’t swim very well today.”

Fu’s openness about her period has been applauded by netizens the world over, while many in China took to Weibo, seemingly bemused by the fact that Fu was allowed to swim given her menstruation. This reaction is to be expected given that Chinese sex education tends to avoid teaching women about tampons, preferring instead to recommend sanitary towels.

“I just saw Fu Yuanhui is on her period and I’m a little confused. How was she able to swim without any blood leaking into the pool and without her menstrual pad showing…it’s very strange”

Fu shot to global fame last week after giving an interview following her semi-final 200m backstroke swim. In the interview, Fu endeared herself to people with her incredulous expressions upon hearing that she performed far better than expected.

Watch her translated menstruation interview here:

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=m0321zne836&width=500&height=375&auto=0

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