Here we go again. Female athletes once again in the firing line, harrassed and degraded by sad little toads who take cover behind the security of their well-trodden keyboards.
These moronic, twisted individuals spew out hatred on a regular basis, justifying their behaviour through ill-informed thought processes and a belief in their own self-aggrandised superiority.
Remember Joey Barton and the ‘Lesbo-ball’ comments? Or the abuse faced by Karen Carney? Or Eni Aluko? Or any number of females involved in sport?
On Monday, former 10,000m world champion Liz McColgan felt moved to intervene in defence of her daughter, Eilish.
‘Stop the abusive online comments on women athlete’s appearances,’ said McColgan, while sharing a post that exemplified the sort of nonsense the runner has to put up with on a regular basis.
On this occasion, McColgan, an Olympian with a Commonwealth gold and multiple success under her belt, has again been vilified for her appearance after posting a video on social media. In the clip, she is seen running on a treadmill in preparation for the upcoming London Marathon.
Scotland track legends Eilish and Liz (right) McColgan celebrate her 2022 Commie Games gold
Eilish is now moving from track to road but has been body-shamed on social media
Eilish and Liz both hit back at the vile trolls on social media, calling them ‘clowns’
Immediately, she is hit with accusations of an eating disorder.
‘Just an anorexic on a treadmill.’ ‘Bones.’ ‘Stop running and go an eat.’ ‘U need to leave that treadmill n stare at a menu at a steakhouse for a bit and spend all this time eating instead, cuz you look depleted as f*** bordering on eating disorder.’
Sadly, this sort of abuse is nothing new to McColgan, She has experienced it many times before.
As she herself points out: ‘Being an elite female athlete is wild. Some people have no comprehension of how much you have to fuel your body to do this type of training. Bunch of clowns.’
Yes, McColgan is slim. But so is every other elite long distance runner. Are there issues among some runners? Undoubtedly, as there will be in almost every community. It would be foolish to suggest otherwise.
Where she is right, however, is in her reply to her critics. There is no way in hell that McColgan could do the type of training she endures without properly fuelling her body.
Believe me. I know. Why? Because I nearly died from the eating disorder others are accusing her of having. And I can assure you that there is no way I could have sustained such levels of training in such a depleted state.
For me, what’s particularly galling about all of this is the body shaming. It is not only ill-judged, it’s extremely dangerous. Ironically, it can actually lead to disordered eating, cause a strain on mental health, and make those at the other end of it feel useless and unworthy.
Tom Quinn, from eating disorder charity BEAT, told me they were ‘very concerned’ McColgan was being subjected to these comments on social media.
‘Commenting on a person’s appearance or their eating habits is never acceptable,’ he said. ‘While unkind comments alone would never be the sole and direct cause of an eating disorder, they can make existing eating disorders worse and disrupt recovery.
‘We don’t know anything about Eilish McColgan’s health — but what we do know is that vulnerable people will be able to see these comments and could therefore be at increased risk of harm.
‘There’s no excuse for adding to the abundance of dangerous material that’s already on the internet. We urge social media platforms to take action against those peddling this kind of harmful rhetoric and signpost those who are unwell to quality support.’
As it stands, at least 1.25million people in the UK are living with an eating disorder. So while people may laugh and use throw away comments such as ‘go eat a burger’ at athletes online, they’re only perpetuating the issue.
Our society still seems to have a real problem with accepting some female athletes and their achievements in sport. Rather than raising them up, we appear to regularly deride or pick holes in their appearances, their place in certain sports, or their ability to be sports broadcasters or journalists. Just look at the furore over Gary Lineker’s replacements on Match of the Day.
As Chloe Morgan, head of women’s football publisher She’s A Baller, told me: ‘Online abuse of female athletes is rife across sports. We’re seeing more criticism and review of games, the sport, the players and the staff, which, when constructive, can elevate the sport and create much needed discourse, but there’s a fine line between criticism and comments which edge into hate and abuse, both on and off the field.’
How we tackle this continuing abuse is the question. Organisations such as Women in Football have taken matters into their own hands, writing to parliamentarians and meeting with Ofcom to discuss ongoing challenges.
CEO Yvonne Harrison told Mail Sport that since April 2024, Women in Football and a cross-working party of British broadcasters had been regularly meeting to discuss how to tackle growing issues in the industry. They’re now developing a strategy to respond as ‘one voice’ in the event of ‘future social media abuse’.
‘Last year, Women in Football revealed that 89 per cent of women responding to its annual survey had experienced discrimination in the workplace. Forty four per cent said they had witnessed an increase in discriminatory social media posts and 18 per cent had been directly subjected to such abuse themselves.
‘This is not a trend that appears to be going away,’ said Harrison.
Joint action on these issues, therefore, is imperative. Without it, we will only continue to see abusive trends emerging.
It’s time for us all to step up — male allies in particular — before negative comments become a danger to life.
