Awash with allegations, Swimming board calls urgent meeting
Swimming Australia’s board will meet urgently as Olympic stars try to ignore a widening culture controversy in the sport.
SAās board will convene on Tuesday, a day after the governing bodyās ethics and integrity committee also met to discuss claims of a sexist culture in swimming.
The furore was triggered by Queensland Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves, who claimed on social media there were āmisogynistic perverts in the sportā when announcing her withdrawal from Australiaās Olympic selection trials in Adelaide.
SA will form an independent all-female panel to investigate Grovesā claims and any wider issues of culture problems in elite swimming.
But Groves is still yet to respond to calls and emails from SA hierarchy.
The governing body has urged any swimmer with concerns to come forward.
Olympic gold-medal prospects Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown are among swimmers at the Adelaide trials shuttering themselves from the controversy.
You might like
āI have heard little whispers but for me personally, I have never experienced any of that,ā Titmus said.
āAnd anything a coach says to me about my physique or race weight or whatever is for performance purposes only.
āI have never experienced fat-shaming as such that is talked about in the media at the moment.ā
McKeown, who broke the womenās 100m backstroke world record on Sunday night, said she was avoiding the controversy.
āI keep in my own little bubble, I donāt like the whole outside distractions,ā she said.
āIf people feel that way, that is on them and thatās their opinions.
Stay informed, daily
āBut I just ā¦ try and ignore any shame comments or anything like that ā no negativity.ā
SA chief executive Alex Baumann has said the independent panel would soon be formed to investigate any claims of abuse.
Asked on Sunday if the nationās elite swim program had systemic problems regarding treatment of female swimmers, he replied: āI donāt think we do.
āBut this is what we are setting up to really try to find, so weāre setting up this panel to exactly take a look at that.ā
SA had no record of any previous complaint from Groves.
Groves last November posted on Twitter: āI definitely made a complaint a few years ago about a person that works at swimming making me feel uncomfortable the way they stare at me in my togsā.
Groves, on Instagram on Wednesday, announced her withdrawal from the trials.
The dual silver medallist from the 2016 Olympics went further on Twitter on Thursday, posting: āLet this be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers.
āYou can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight ā¦ Timeās UP.ā
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
