Athletes faced abuse of racist and sexual nature at Olympics: World Athletics study

The study monitored the social media accounts of 1,917 athletes and officials for the duration of the Olympics and for 24 hours before and after the Games started and ended.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Track and field athletes at the Paris Olympics were targeted by racism or sexualised abuse, according to a World Athletics study. | Photo Credit: AP

Track and field athletes at the Paris Olympics were targeted by racism or sexualised abuse, according to a World Athletics study of the social media accounts of over 1,900 competitors released on Thursday.

Abuse of that nature made up more than 48 per cent of the total while “general abuse” accounted for 32 per cent.

The study monitored the social media accounts of 1,917 athletes and officials for the duration of the Olympics and for 24 hours before and after the Games started and ended.

The sample size was 12 times bigger than the research conducted at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

In all, 128 posts and comments were escalated to the relevant platform for additional action. Racism was the largest category of detected abuse targeting male athletes, making up 26 per cent of total abuse.

Female athletes were targeted with a mixture of sexual and sexist abuse and almost half of the detected content falling under the general abuse category (49 per cent).

“It is no secret that social media abuse towards athletes can have a devastating impact on their mental health as well as their performance,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.

Coe said it was important for athletes to have a social media presence “because it enables them to connect with their fans, as well as deliver on endorsement commitments” but he said “they need to be able to do so in a safe environment”.

“We are proud of many of our athletes who use their platform to raise awareness on important issues, including speaking out about online abuse and its impact on mental health,” he added.

He said World Athletics would use the research to “drive positive change”.