Harassment and abuse in sport occurs worldwide
Harassment and abuse occurs in all sports disciplines
Elite athletes may be at a higher risk
IOC Athlete Safeguarding Toolkit (2017)
Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
Harassment and abuse can be expressed in five forms which may occur in combination or in isolation. These forms of abuse are defined here as:
Psychological Abuse means any unwelcome act including confinement, isolation, verbal assault, humiliation, intimidation, infantilisation, or any other treatment which may diminish the sense of identity, dignity, and self-worth.
Sexual Harassment means any unwanted and unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal or physical. Sexual harassment can take the form of sexual abuse.
Sexual Abuse means any conduct of a sexual nature, whether non-contact, contact or penetrative, where consent is coerced/manipulated or is not or cannot be given.
Neglect means the failure of a coach or another person with a duty of care towards the Athlete to provide a minimum level of care to the Athlete, which is causing harm, allowing harm to be caused, or creating an imminent danger of harm.
Physical Abuse means any deliberate and unwelcome act that causes physical trauma or injury, this includes things such as inappropriate training loads, forced doping, training whilst in pain, punching, etc.
Full definitions can be found in the IOC Consensus Statement 2016
Whilst not all cases constitute a criminal offence, all are breach of human rights and can have severe detrimental impacts to athletes.
