Snapped ribs, muscle strains, just some of the issues faced by Great Britain's female rowers in their pursuit of Olympic glory, injuries sometimes linked to the menstrual cycle. A new research program is now trying to change that. Project Minerva's goal is to make the rowers healthier, stronger, and ultimately, medal winners. Sarah Dawkins traveled to the GB base in Oxfordshire.

From the early starts on the water to giving absolutely everything off it, Great Britain's rowers are leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of Olympic glory next summer.

Everything hurt, my feet, my legs, lungs, lung.

The.

Latest focus, the health of their female athletes. Dribble into the tube. This is Project Minerva, saliva testing to track hormones and the menstrual cycle alongside other training markers like heart rate monitors. For the first time, sports scientists and elite athletes are under the same roof, delivering more personalized and productive training.

You're gaining more knowledge about how your body works, what happens every single month, what happens every single day, and how those fluctuations change. This is about the one % is, and in elite sport, that is what we're looking for as well, is those little edges that can make the difference.

For some, like Hannah Scott, the project has been life-changing.

I think over my time, I've had 10 rib injuries, and that was something I just accepted and thought was normal. Turns out it's actually something I can fix. And I think what they've discovered through this project, they've realized that it's also to do with how women are fueling. And it's not just that women are more susceptible to rib injuries than men. It is the fact that we have these hormones. We're not maybe producing as much estrogen as we should have been for our bone health, and that's why.

Scott is now injury free, marking her comeback with a gold medal at the World Championship in September. Great Britain.

Take gold. And I taken all my learning from the year before with Project Minerva, and I felt so confident on the start line at the world champs because I knew so much.

More about my body.

The hope is what's happening here can be rolled out across other elite sports in years to come.

We're really proud to be pushing the boundaries a bit and proud that we're taking a real invested interest to the next level in female athletes. We're looking to the future. We're looking to LA, and we're looking to be able to support the next group of athletes even better than we have done this group.

The negativity around the menstrual cycle is being washed away, no longer something to fear, but instead to embrace.

I'd like to make women's journeys in Rowan as easy as possible. The capabilities of women's bodies to be stronger in certain ways, and it's not that we're weak, we just didn't have the support in the first place to help us be strong.

Sarah Dawkins, BBC News, Cavisham.

You can read all about Project Minervah on the website as well. The BBC Sport websites are on there as well.