Madeline Groves in 200m fly 27355888860 43a42

Olympian Madeline Groves Drops Out Of Olympic Trials, Telling “Misogynistic Perverts”: “You Can No Longer Exploit Young Women and Girls”

by Natalie Frate

Australian swimmer Madeline Groves has withdrawn from the Olympic trials in Adelaide, alluding to inappropriate conduct by an as-yet-unidentified figure within the sport. Writing in a tweet that this should “be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers — you can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus. Time’s UP”

This is not the first time the two-time Olympic silver-medalist has spoken out about experiencing inappropriate behavior. In November 2020, she tweeted about lodging a complaint about a coach who made her uncomfortable when he stared at her in her bathing suit, and was later promoted.

Kieran Perkins, the President of Swimming Australia, said that Groves has been contacted about both the concerns she has raised, but has yet to have a conversation with the national governing body, according to The BBC. He stated that he “can certainly reassure her that claims like these are of the utmost importance to us, and providing a safe environment for all of our participants is absolutely paramount to us.”

While no longer planning on participating in the Olympics, Groves will still be participating in other swimming competitions this year.

One can expect that Groves, who frequently draws attention to a number of issues regarding women athletes, such as body shaming, transphobia, and Endo/Adenomyosis (from which she suffers), will continue to speak out.

Top Photo Credit: JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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