Late Australian footballer Heather Anderson first diagnosed case of CTE brain trauma in a female athlete

As women’s contact sport grows, researchers say Heather Anderson ‘is the first female athlete diagnosed with CTE, but she will not be the last’. Photograph: Will Russell/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Australian researchers have for the first time diagnosed a female athlete with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head injuries, in a finding which will have major implications for women’s sport.

The Australian rules footballer and Adelaide premiership player Heather Anderson died in November 2022 at the age of 28, with her unexpected death the subject of an ongoing coronial investigation.