On the sidelines of the 2022 World Athletics Championships, the International Federation published an analysis showing that more than 25 athletes were victims of hate messages on social networks.
More than 25 athletes, mostly women, were the target of hate messages on social networks, mainly of a sexist or racist nature, around the 2022 World Championships in Athletics, according to an analysis by the International Federation published Friday.
World Athletics relied on a tool to monitor the Twitter or Instagram accounts of 461 athletes a few days before, during, and after the Worlds held in July in Eugene, United States, to conduct this online survey. She had already led one, on a smaller scale, around the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
Two athletes sharply targeted
According to his observations, 27 athletes were targeted by hate comments, mostly women (16). These comments are mainly sexist (more than 40%) and racist (nearly 20%). They are more motivated by extra-sporting elements than by results, points out the organization. Two athletes, a woman and a man, were particularly targeted by this digital violence (nearly 40% of the messages identified), she underlines.
«The results of this analysis are worrying but it is important that we know where and how our athletes are attacked on social networks so that we can act to protect them and prevent this from happening again.commented World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. The International Athletics Federation specifies that it reserves the right to report the authors of the most violent comments to national authorities for possible prosecution.
In total, more than 425,000 messages were analyzed. More than 1,900 athletes were involved in the Worlds-2022.