From catsuits to the hijab, sportswomen have long been denied the right to wear kits they have chosen to wear for medical reasons, religious or cultural beliefs – or simply for comfort.

When Serena Williams stepped onto the court at the French Open in 2018 – in her first grand slam just nine months after giving birth – wearing a full-length black bodysuit with red waistband, her intention wasn’t to make a fashion statement.

The 23-times grand slam champion might have spoken about feeling like a ‘superhero’, a ‘warrior princess’ in the aftermath of her first-round appearance, but ultimately there was a major underlying reason for her all-in-one outfit – her health.

Williams nearly died during childbirth in September 2017 following serious complications related to a pulmonary embolism. Having worn leggings throughout her recovery and return to sport, the compression of the tights was to keep her blood circulation flowing.

Yet the iconic player wasn’t allowed to wear her outfit for her second round later that week after French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli put a ban in place.

“I believe we have sometimes gone too far,” Giudicelli said. “Serena’s outfit this year, for example, would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place.”

‘Tennis players have a way to express themselves through clothing’

Wimbledon 33 years earlier had denied Anne White returning to the All England Club wearing a catsuit, which although adhered to the all-white traditions, “wasn’t deemed suitable attire”.

In Sky Sports documentary, ‘Fit for Purpose’ shining a light on the fight and challenges sportswomen have encountered over the last few decades regarding sports kit, White said: “I was taken to the principal’s office by Alan Mills [former tournament referee] at Wimbledon and told I couldn’t wear that white suit and that it wasn’t deemed suitable attire in the eyes of the All England Club.”

White’s first-round contest with Pam Shriver was suspended as darkness fell with the match locked at one-set all, the next day the American returned in regulation wear and lost 6-3 in the deciding set.

“I remember my picture was on the front page of all the papers, it was funny,” White added. “I wanted to prove a point that it was fashion and function, I was just a little ahead of my time. I think tennis players have a way to express themselves with their clothing, you’re not hurting anyone, you’re playing within your sponsors, they should be able to wear what they want to wear.”

‘Who’s deciding what women can wear anywhere in life?’

That was not the case for hijab-wearing football players who were banned by FIFA from wearing head covers from 2007 with the world football governing body believing them to pose too great a risk of injury to the head or neck.

It wasn’t until seven years later that the ban was officially lifted and FIFA authorised the wearing of head covers for religious purposes during matches.

Rimla Akhtar, who co-founded the global Muslim Women in Sport Network and became the first Muslim and Asian woman on the Football Association (FA) Council, told Sky Sports: “When the hijab ban first came into place I began to think ‘who’s making these decisions around kit? Who’s deciding what women are choosing to wear anywhere in life – but particularly on the field of play.

“We’ve already lost a ridiculous amount of women to these ridiculous laws, the seven years it took to overturn the hijab ban by FIFA, imagine the women who would’ve made it through in that time potentially.

“I remember the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, there was a concern around the Jordanian women’s team making it through, what would that mean, because some of the girls wear hijabs and the hijab is banned in football in France and in public spaces. What would that mean?

“These are things we shouldn’t have to consider. My work right now is focused on the international federations because that’s where the laws come in and how they can include more inclusive kit guidelines that are fit for the current century that we’re in and that are fit for the future as well.”

‘Why aren’t the guys being told to put their tops on?’

Imagine being a young sportswoman and being told your choice of outfit is ‘inappropriate’?

That was the experience of Paralympian Olivia Breen who was taken to one side by an official at the English Championship back in 2021.

“I finished a competition and this official came up to me and said ‘can I have a word with you, Olivia?’, thinking they were going to ask me about the competition or something,” Breen, who competes in T38 sprint and F38 long jump, told Sky Sports.

“They said ‘I think your briefs are too inappropriate and I was like ‘sorry, what? Are you joking?’ And she said ‘no, I think you should consider buying a new pair. I just looked around thinking ‘I feel really comfortable wearing these, how dare you say that’.

“At the competition I was at, there were guys who were topless, and then thinking ‘well they’re not getting told to put their tops on, so why am I being told my briefs are too inappropriate?

“I’m really glad that I spoke out about it and hopefully now it will help things in the long run. Then young girls won’t get told their shorts are too inappropriate or they need to buy longer shorts. We want young girls and people to feel as comfortable as they can.”

What about those competitors who feel that their body shape isn’t deemed to be athletic or what society has deemed a ‘typical’ sportswoman should look like?

Last year Sport England funded research found that 45 per cent of girls don’t believe they’ve got the right body shape for sport – could kit be playing its part in adding to these concerns?

Saracens Mavericks goal shooter Britney Clarke revealed she has had problems with body dysphoria throughout her career.

“There have been times that kit has been too short, too small, because I don’t think there have been too many big women in the sport and kit suppliers wouldn’t really supply kit that big,” she told Sky Sports.

“For a supplier it’s easy to do a box size of 12 dresses. When I do get a kit that fits, it’s great. I don’t have to worry about chasing anyone about it. It feels good when I’m in the same kit as everyone else. Sometimes if I’m wearing something because I haven’t got the same kit as everyone else as it hasn’t arrived in my size, I notice it more.

“I did go through phrases of body dysphoria – even now. Sometimes when I think about how I feel when I do something or when I see something back and think ‘that’s not how I thought I looked in my head’. On everyday clothes I’m between a size 16 to 18 but my kit will be coming up as a 22 and I’m like ‘this is messing with my head’ because I’m not a size 22, my everyday clothes are coming up as something else.”

‘It makes you think ‘am I good enough to be in this sport?’

Former Team GB sprinter Anyika Onuora spent most of her career struggling with body confidence that led to eating disorders.

“When I was growing up, my bum was massive and it was one of my most prominent features,” the 38-year-old, who won medals at the Olympics, world championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships.

“From a young age, I hated anything that defined the lower half of my shape. So crop tops were fine, vests were fine, but I hated wearing pants, knickers, three-quarter length tights, I hated them all.

“I definitely had comments and felt like I was constantly under scrutiny by senior support management for years throughout pretty much the whole of my career, I would never think to back chat or talk back or even question why they were saying that because at the same time you do feel like you’re at their mercy because I want to stay on funding and I want to be selected for teams, so you feel like you had to abide by these rules.

“It definitely led to major insecurities because it makes you think ‘am I good enough to be in this sport?’ Am I good enough to run fast? And it led to some seriously bad eating habits for me.”

British Athletics and former UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee declined to comment in response to Onuora’s comments.

When fellow Team GB athlete and long jumper Lorraine Ugen was dropped by her sponsor, she started making her own kit.

With the Covid lockdown hitting athletes hard, companies opted against standing by competitors and Ugen, who finished 11th at the Rio Games, took the opportunity to establish a brand that could support other colleagues.

“I would’ve thought those kit companies would’ve supported their athletes during Covid, because obviously you’re not able to compete as much, don’t have access to prize money. It would have been the perfect time for a lot of companies to step up, but a lot of them did the reverse, so I made the brand ‘unsigned’ as a statement to be like ‘I’m available, I’m not sponsored’ and wanted to make it a community with other athletes where they aren’t ashamed,” Ugen, who was filmed at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, said.

“There needs to be customisation from kit suppliers for each individual athlete because we’re all different shapes and sizes. There are a lot of track and field athletes, and if you’re all with similar brands, you want to stand out and do something to give yourself a little bit of an edge. When you look good, you feel good and can be confident when you go out competing.”

Britain’s most decorated Olympian, Katherine Grainger, who won her fifth medal at the Rio Games in 2016, and Chair of UK Sport agrees that athletes must ultimately have the final say over kit to ensure confidence and alleviate any unnecessary anxiety when they are in their sporting environment.

Grainger said: “When any athlete competes, it’s usually in a public environment, so some of the smaller competitions, they might not be televised, but you might still have an audience. Then it can be on the huge scale of the Olympics, Paralympics, World Cups where suddenly you’ve got millions of people watching, so there’s always going to be a self conscious, body image awareness happening anyway.

“Depending on what you wear, that can make it more extreme. So it’s a case of can athletes have an input into what they wear, how they feel about it, they really should be able to impact into what the kit looks like, how they wear it, what the options are and how they get the best out of themselves when they come to the point of competition, so it’s not an extra stress or extra worry.”

And as Grainger succinctly puts, the time is ripe for athletes to make themselves heard.

“The message to athletes, especially up and coming ones in the system now, there has never been a better time to find a voice and use it.”

Watch ‘Fit for Purpose?’ On Demand and read the three-part series on the Sky Sports website and app