Olympic Champion Sara Simeoni Talks about Gender Barriers in Sport and Medicine: Culture, Opportunities and Resources

An overview of the relationship between elite athletes’ sport activity and medicine was presented during a conference with guest speaker Mrs. Sara Simeoni, Italian Olympic Games high jump champion (one gold medal, in Moscow, and silver medals in Montreal and Los Angeles). She has had a particularly prolonged career for this type of sport activity, and her endorsement and support, since she is a recognized icon of sport excellence, is very important. This is particularly true in relevant and sensitive topics such as gender inequalities, physical exercise and sport ethics. During the conference, the relationship between nutrition, physical activity and health, in both medicine and social life, were also covered. In reality, we still find that the cultural, economic, societal and political barriers are present and, currently, in some regards, they are even stronger than in the past. The interplay between evidence-based medicine, elite athletes’ training, physical fitness practice and physical exercise intervention in health and disease is still being developed. Defining methods and clarifying multidimensional outcomes should, as much as possible, be pursued, and sustainable strategies and tools should be discussed.