"VAN" (Sports Desk - 19.12.2024) :: World Athletics (18 December) unveiled the findings of a ground-breaking four-year report analysing online abuse in athletics.
World Athletics conducted the study using Signify Group’s Threat Matrix service. This is the first time an international federation has conducted such an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of online abuse. The study spanned a four-year event cycle covering track, field and road athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (held in 2021), World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022, World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In total, more than 1.4 million posts or comments were analysed across the study period, protecting 2,438 athletes participating in World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games.
World Athletics’ deployment of Threat Matrix, which operates in 40 languages, expanded significantly in scope since the initial Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games study. By the Paris Games in 2024, 1,917 athletes and sports officials with at least one active social account were monitored – almost 12 times the original sample set during Tokyo 2020 (161). Moreover, four platforms (X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) were monitored during Paris 2024, expanding significantly from coverage of just X (formerly Twitter) in the initial 2021 study. However, this study excluded direct messaging or non-targeted abuse conversation; where the athletes were mentioned but not directly tagged, suggesting the issue is even greater than the study highlights.
The project scope and coverage has evolved significantly over four years with the introduction of additional platforms, and the identification of new issues, tactics and motivations for sending targeted online abuse. While the growth of coverage and scope as well as the difference in size and scale between World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games makes direct comparisons between each event complicated, racism, sexism and sexualised abuse were constant throughout the study, as was the prevalence and increasing volume of targeted abusive content on social media.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “Over the past four years, we have invested significant resources into conducting research into online abuse during our sport’s major events – our World Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games.
“One of our significant successes from this initiative has been our ability to offer athletes support and providing them with the tools to proactively protect themselves against online abuse. Athlete welfare is at the very top of our priority list, and we will continue to put measures in place to ensure that athletes can confidently and safely engage with social media platforms.”
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