Overview
- Van Almsick says she at times stopped eating during her career, surviving on “two salt sticks a day” before realizing she had no strength to train.
- She links the disorder’s emergence to relentless public attention after her 1992 Olympic breakthrough and a loss of personal autonomy.
- A 1997 motorcycle accident that broke her wrist gave her a protective pause from the spotlight, which she describes as a welcome retreat.
- She began therapy in 1998 and learned to address control, self-acceptance and fear rather than focusing solely on food.
- She says the condition still functions as a warning sign, and she now guards her private life in Heidelberg while continuing her public role in German sport.