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The toxicity of sport hidden by the gilded edge of victory
The past few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for sports fans. They’ve been spoiled for choice. The New Zealand team did them proud at the Commonwealth Games with a flood of medals, personal bests and participation, and the All Blacks are trying to turn their fortunes around.
But behind the gold medals and headlines is still a river of toxicity flowing from many directions.
It was incredibly pleasing to see the success of the cyclists at the Commonwealth Games. Ellesse Andrews, and the women’s teams in particular were outstanding given what they have experienced in the past 12 months, and beyond.
This week marked one year since the suspected suicide of their team-mate and friend, Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore.
On a side note, it’s also two years since abusive practices and welfare issues in gymnastics and elite level canoe racing were exposed. The latter is yet to be properly resolved, while in the past three weeks gymnastics released a work plan for addressing issues highlighted in its review from February 2021.
A review into the cycling programme ensued and when it was released in May it found a culture of medals over athletes as human beings, which in turn negatively impacted athlete mental health and wellbeing. It also found neglect of women’s experiences and health and called for a complete restructure of the environment and High Performance Sport NZ.
Following the release in May, Aaron Gate – who has been celebrated far and wide after claiming four gold medals at the Games, and was the NZ team closing ceremony flag bearer – went on radio to talk about the review. He admitted he hadn’t fully read it, but said while the environment wasn’t perfect, positive changes had been made.
He painted a picture of the sacrifices elite athletes make to
succeed, said it was
‘‘frustrating’’ former athletes spoke negatively about the environment, how it was a privilege to be an elite athlete, and that things weren’t as dire as what was made out by the media.
While he discussed the negative impact on Cycling NZ staff, he neglected to consider that the environment and culture predominately impacted female athletes, who were at the core of the review and media coverage.
His comments in turn diminished the lived experiences and the voices of those women, causing further harm to them.
Having spent months interviewing women within cycling, and spending time with some of them on the day the review was released, I have personally witnessed and reported on the devastating impact this environment had on them.
Being a champion is more than just gold medals or results.
‘There is an insidious sense of entitlement and expectation among some fans. The public has become accustomed to the ABs winning all the time, so when they lose, out comes a vitriolic stream of abuse and bullying. It was appalling to see some comments – including racist comments – on social media targeting players and management following their losses.’
What you do off the field of play matters just as much.
And being a true champion also extends to fans. This has become obvious in the past few weeks with the response to the All Blacks’ series loss to Ireland and their performance in South Africa last Sunday.
There is an insidious sense of entitlement and expectation among some fans. The public has become accustomed to the All Blacks winning all the time, so when they lose, out comes a vitriolic stream of abuse and bullying. It was utterly appalling to see some disgusting comments – including racist comments – on social media targeting players and management following their losses.
The interesting thing to note is the vast majority of these comments are coming from men.
All Blacks management are doing their best to protect the players from the flowing river of abuse and bullying. But they shouldn’t have to. Do you kick people when they are down? Do you fling vile abuse towards another human being when all they are trying to do is perform their job? Are you displaying positive leadership role modelling for the next generation of fans and rugby players?
The All Blacks are humans first, athletes second – and there is no doubt some of the public’s behaviour is having an impact on them.
Fans have a role to play in helping the All Blacks get back to their winning ways. It’s time to change the narrative.