'Rebel yell': Athlete activism rose to forefront of Canadian sports in 2022

If 2022 was a defining year for Canadian athlete activism, the snowball started rolling back in January.

Dave Bedford, a high-profile Canadian sport executive for four decades, retired as Athletics Canada's CEO after the exposure of a series of sexually graphic tweets that stretched back months.

A national team athlete, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, spoke out about the "gross" tweets. An emergency meeting was held. Bedford agreed to retire two days later.

Armed with powerful voices, many found they were as strong off the field as on it.

Rob Koehler, the Montreal-based director general of advocacy group Global Athlete, said his organization had received abuse complaints from around the world this year.

"[But] we have received more from Canada than any other country," he said.

On whether the number of complaints in Canada has risen this past year, Koehler said: "Exploded. Absolutely exploded."

In March, dozens of Canadian bobsleigh and skeleton athletes wrote a public letter to Sport Canada calling for the resignation of their organization's president, Sarah Storey, and high performance director, Chris le Bihan. After an athlete outcry that lasted months, Storey's tenure ended last month when she didn't seek re-election.

At the recent 45th Canadian Sport Awards, bobsledder Cynthia Appiah, who was among the most vocal in her sport's fight for change, won the Athlete Voice Award as the top athletes' rep.

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In May, dozens of Canadian boxers publicly called for the resignation of high performance director Daniel Trepanier. Three-time world champion Mary Spencer was among the most vocal, saying Trepanier should have been "fired a long time