Olympic diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix vows to call out objectification

Olympic diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix says she will use her newfound courage to call out anyone who objectifies an athlete for simply wearing their uniform.

Spendolini-Sirieix was just 16 when she reached the the 10m platform final on her Olympic debut three years ago in Tokyo, and has since secured individual 2022 Commonwealth and European titles and a bronze this year that made her the first British woman in world diving championships history to secure a medal in an individual Olympic event.

The soon-to-be journalism student has also written candidly about what was once a destructive relationship with food and body image, one she says has got “a lot better” after shedding internalised stereotypes and embracing self-acceptance.

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“I feel like now I’m a lot braver to actually call it out, but I’ve had DMs which I’ve blocked and deleted messages where people have (said) ‘You aren’t a good role model for the way you wear your costume’,” Spendolini-Sirieix told the PA news agency.

“The fact that I’m throwing myself over 10 metres should be enough to start a conversation. If you’re honing in on my costume, it’s very telling about how you’ve conditioned your mind.

“When I see volleyball players (or) people in my sport who are overly sexualised, I kind of feel disgusted by that.

“We’ve dedicated our lives to this. We’re not doing this so you can tell us we look good. We know we look good! We work for these bodies.

“People need to wake up. We can’t change our costumes, but they can change the way that they think.”

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Growing up in an “aesthetic” sport, Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, found it difficult not to absorb the incorrect assumption that divers