The findings come from a study conducted during the Games and published on Thursday.
It follows the launch of World Athletics’ new safety policy last month, which highlighted concerns that social media platforms need stronger security policies to protect athletes.
Using a sample of 161 Twitter handles from current and former athletes involved in Tokyo, the study tracked their accounts starting a week before the opening ceremony of the Olympics and ending a day after the closing ceremony.
The results found sexist, racist, transphobic and homophobic abuse of athletes as well as baseless doping allegations.
The study said: “This also clearly highlights the greater level of abuse women athletes face in comparison to their male counterparts.” In addition, the results found that 65 percent of abusive posts were considered seriously abusive and warranted interference from social media platforms.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in the report: “When we published our safety policy earlier this month, I stated that athletics clubs, schools and community sports environments should be safe and happy places for our sporting people. needed.”
“In a world where we share so much of our lives online, this should apply to the virtual, as well as the physical world. This research is disturbing in many ways but what strikes me most is this That abuse is targeted at individuals who are celebrating and sharing their performance and talents as a way of motivating and motivating people.
“The abuse they are facing is immeasurable and we all need to do more to stop it. Shedding light on this issue is only the first step.”
World Athletics said in the study that it would work closely with Twitter to take appropriate action against offenders and notified the platform of abusive posts uncovered in the research.
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