Swimming Australia releases findings of report on treatment of women and girls

Swimming Australia has released the findings of a report commissioned in June 2021 after explosive allegations by Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves of the sport's «misogynistic» culture.

At the time, Groves announced she was withdrawing from Tokyo Olympic trials as a «lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their bootlickers.»

It led to the establishment of an independent panel to investigate the treatment of women and girls in the sport.

The panel spoke to 150 participants including former and current athletes, parents, coaches, technical officials, volunteers and administrators.

In a media release, Swimming Australia said the «open and frank» feedback it received was «difficult to read».

«We want to reassure those who have come forward that the sport is committed to change to ensure these negative experiences are not repeated and apologise unreservedly to those impacted.»

The report contains a total of 46 recommendations.

Some of the key recommendations include that the sport should do away with the use of skinfolds «as a measure of body composition at any stage of a swimmer's career».

This includes amending language in current coaching materials to be «more respectful towards women (for example remove existing descriptions such as „large things“ when describing the bodies of female swimmers)».

It also calls for a task force to promote gender equality within the sport, «to address areas such as „leadership opportunities for women as coaches, officials, administrators and executives“.

Australian Olympic swimmer Madeline Groves says she was sexually abused by a man who still works in swimming and says there is a culture of „misogyny“ and „perversion“ in the sport.

It commits to establishing quotas for the