AFP, Sydney :
Blaming “misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers”, dual Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves has pulled out of Australia’s swimming trials for the Tokyo Games.
The 26-year-old, who came second in the 200-metre butterfly and 4×100 medley relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics, made the shock revelation ahead of the trials starting in Adelaide on Saturday.
“Let this be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers,” she said on Instagram late Thursday in explaining the move.
“You can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus. Time’s UP.”
The target of her comments was not clear, but last November she complained on Twitter about “a person that works at swimming making me feel uncomfortable the way they stare at me” in her swimming costume.
She also wrote days later about a “creepy comment” made by an unnamed coach, who she said apologised 15 minutes later “possibly cause the team psych told him to”.
