World Athletics Provides Online Abuse Support for 25 Athletes

World Athletics has introduced year-round protection for 25 athletes against online abuse on their social media platforms, using artificial intelligence.

This initiative follows a study conducted over four years, which included two Olympic Games and two World Championships, aimed at analyzing the online abuse targeted at athletes.

The research involved analyzing more than 1.4 million posts and comments, covering 2,438 athletes from track, field, and road events.

The study focused on comments and targeted abuse, particularly when athletes were tagged, while excluding direct messages or non-targeted abuse.

World Athletics has not disclosed the identities of the 25 athletes receiving support, but they confirmed that the initiative would be expanded in the coming year.

World Athletics President Lord Coe emphasized the importance of athlete welfare, saying, “We have invested significant resources into researching online abuse, and one of the key outcomes has been our ability to offer athletes support and tools to proactively protect themselves against abuse.” He added, “Athlete welfare is at the very top of our priority list, and we will continue to implement measures that allow athletes to confidently and safely engage with social media platforms.”