TOKYO, Nov 1 — Racism and sexualised abuse continue to be used in online posts to target athletes, World Athletics said Thursday as it published findings from a study conducted during the Paris Olympics, Kyodo News Agency reported.
“Racism (18 per cent) and sexualised abuse (30 per cent) continue to be the biggest issue, making up more than 48 per cent of the total detected abuse, while general abuse makes up 32 per cent,” the world governing body of athletics said in a press release.
In the fourth study of its kind, 1,917 athletes with at least one active account were monitored for online abuse during the Paris Games across four social media platforms — 12 times the size sampled during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The research was conducted in collaboration with Signify Group, using its Threat Matrix service powered by artificial intelligence, according to World Athletics.
A total of 809 posts were verified to be of an abusive nature, with 128 of them reported to the relevant platform for additional action.
“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.
“Many athletes are committed to growing the sport of athletics through their online presence, but 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.” — Bernama-Kyodo
