MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - World Athletics has offered 25 athletes year-round AI protection on their social media platforms after they were targeted by cyber bullies during major recent events, the governing body said on Wednesday.
World Athletics unveiled findings of a four-year report analysing online abuse in the sport using Signify Group's Threat Matrix service. The study monitored online activity during the Olympics in 2021 and 2024, and the 2022 and 2023 world athletics championships.
While World Athletics did not detail how the AI protection would operate, it is often used to identify potential security threats and filter out inappropriate content on social media.
Among the study's findings, two serious cases were identified and reported to police authorities.
Of the more than 350,000 posts captured for analysis during the Paris 2024 Olympics on X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, 809 were verified as abusive, 18% of them racist, 13% sexual in nature, and 17% sexist. Two athletes received 82% of all the abuse.
Jamaican sprinter Junelle Bromfield spoke out in August about the cyber bullying -- including death threats -- she had suffered during the Paris Games over her relationship with Olympic 100 metres champion Noah Lyles.
"Athlete welfare is at the very top of our priority list, and we will continue to put measures in place to ensure that athletes can confidently and safely engage with social media platforms," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.
Three out of the top five abused athletes from the 2023 world championships in Budapest also featured in the top five most targeted athletes at the Paris Olympics.
Approximately 240,000 posts were captured for analysis from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, with 132 of them verified as abusive, with 63% of them aimed at two female athletes.
Social media analysis of the 2023 world championships in Budapest showed 35% of the abuse was racist, a 12-times increase from the world championships a year earlier in Eugene.
World Athletics said it was the first time an international federation had conducted such an in-depth analysis.
"Many athletes don't know how to react (to) abusive comments online, or measures to protect themselves," said Valerie Adams, Chair of the World Athletics Athletes' Commission.
"The more we continue to educate athletes on safeguarding measures, the more athletes will feel comfortable flying the flag for their countries and their sport - on the field of play, and online."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Toby Davis)
