Experienced sportswomen are calling for a shift in attitudes - breaking the bias and normalising discussions around menstruation in sport. In the third of a four-part series, Bonnie Jansen speaks with gymnast Aimee Didierjean on the stigma in her sport, competing in tight uniforms while navigating pads and tampons, and how intense training led to her period arriving late.
Aimee Didierjean once saw her delayed period as a badge of honour.
“I was chuffed with myself, to be fair,” she told the Herald, reflecting on how she was one of the only teenage gymnasts in her team yet to start menstruating.
“I thought I was lucky...Now I know I wasn’t.”
Years later, she learned it was a warning sign of a deeper issue affecting many young gymnasts.
In high-performance sport, silence around menstruation has long been the norm.
For Didierjean, that silence masked a serious condition - Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S).
At just 13, she was training in artistic gymnastics 27 hours a week. By 16, she still hadn’t had her period.
She said this extreme overtraining was what led to her later diagnosis, RED-S - the condition where the functioning of multiple body systems is impaired.
Though the condition was attacking multiple systems in her body, Didierjean, now 22, felt relieved that she could compete in artistic gymnastics more freely than her competitors and teammates.
When Didierjean was growing up, she said her teammates would tell her, “You’re so lucky, you don’t want your period, it’s just such a burden.”
She said they were always “very scared” of leaking through the leotard.
“[Having your period] definitely was a big deterrent for [them] competing, especially because at that time, we weren’t allowed to wear shorts when we were competing.
“[You could only wear] tampons, because you can’t really hide a pad - those are too bulky.
“That’s quite invasive, especially if you’re quite young as well.
“And the undies as well - if they start to show, there was always that fear that you’d get deducted points taken off for having undies show.”
“So in that stage, some girls would compete, some girls wouldn’t compete.”
The former New Zealand representative said it wasn’t just her menstruation that was affected by RED-S, but she was also constantly injured and once suffered a fractured femur.
“It was only after a couple of injuries that my physio was actually, like, ‘that’s not normal’ and did a few other investigations.”
Body image pressures, under-eating, and athletes being weighed were also prevalent when Didierjean was growing up as these too played into her diagnosis of RED-S and the eventual delay of her period.
Now, having taken up a role as an athlete adviser on the Gymnastics New Zealand technical committee, she said it’s so refreshing that the stigma around the sport has started to change.
“There’s so many different body types out there, and they’re all young and different ages, and they’re just comfortable and they’re confident and they’re chatting and they’re having fun.
“I think social media definitely had a big change in that...Saying strong is beautiful...You’ve got your own powers and your own strengths, and to embrace them.
“It’s really cool to see that - especially in this sport where it used to be, ‘oh you need to be stick and ballerina type’.”
Thanks to an overhaul of Gymnastics New Zealand’s attire rules last year, gymnasts in all codes are allowed to wear shorts or leggings over their leotards, and won’t be penalised for visible underwear when they compete in New Zealand.
“That opens up that avenue,” Didierjean said. “Where girls might have dropped out before because they couldn’t wear a pad when they competed.”
Affinity Gymnastics Academy head coach, Angela Meier, said she has also noticed a change in the stigma.
“I’ve got a very open relationship with all my gymnasts, and they normally come to me about anything like that,” she said.
“If they’ve got [their period], if they need something, if they need support with anything.”
Competing in gymnastics in the 1980s and 1990s, Meier said leaking through their leotard was a constant fear.
“That’s what you had in the back of your mind, is ‘what’s gonna happen, is things gonna happen that I can’t control.’ You didn’t have these things like these period undies or you weren’t allowed to wear shorts, you just had to be in a leotard.”
Coaching now for 30 years, Meier reflects on the positive change, given that periods were once frowned upon in the sport.
“My day was a little bit different. Gymnasts probably didn’t get [their period] as early. If you got it, you’re deemed as, ‘oh, you’re developing.’
“Pads could be used, but you’re very self-conscious of that. You didn’t want to wear a leotard because you could see everything.”
Meier is encouraging more normalised discussions: “It’s just knowing your gymnast, knowing that these girls at the end of the day are just human beings.
“They’re gonna grow up.
“Just supporting it along the way and be open to getting to know them and what they’re like, how it’s affecting [them] a little bit, because that may affect their training as well.”
When Didierjean finally experienced what most women dread – and endured it once a month – she found it didn’t affect her in the same way it did many others. The difference, she said, came down to the way she trained in her sport, causing her that RED-S diagnosis.
“My periods were so light, they never really affected me in the aspect of cramps and mood swings,” she said.
Still, as every woman knows, navigating your period always requires some adjustments.
“It was more just making sure that I didn’t bleed through anything. Just making sure I had everything to be prepared for in training because trainings were four hours long, so just making sure that everything was right.
“If you’ve got a white floor, it’s a little bit iffy every time you take a seat, you might get blood on it.”
For her, Didierjean hopes conversations on the topic remain open.
“It’s something that’s so normal, and it should be normalised, and that conversation is so important.
“RED-S is out there. So if you don’t have a period, there’s a strong component that it could be RED-S having a wee play in it as well.”
Tuesday: Irene van Dyk on her silent struggle playing netball while menstruating, hiding the reality and avoiding conversations.
Wednesday: Sailor Liv Mackay on navigating the challenges of being the sole female on her team and how she manages her period while spending long hours at sea.
Thursday: Aimee Didierjean on the stigma in gymnastics, competing in tight uniforms while navigating pads and tampons, and how intense training led to her period arriving late.
Friday: Ultra-marathon runner Shannon-Leigh Litt on embracing her flow and how she adapts her training to align with her cycle.
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She was named New Zealand’s Best Up and Coming journalist in 2025. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.