Part 3 GLOBAL ISSUES: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE RESEARCH

part of women’s lives, and abused women are often accused of being responsible for
the abuse themselves. 4 For the first time ever, a sports coach was sentenced for
having sexually abused two girls in sport in 2006.
Research design
In 2001 the Women and Sport Committee of the Czech Olympic Committee, in
cooperation with the Czech Sport Union, initiated a research project on issues related
to women in sport. The goal of the project was to assess the present role and
situation of women in sport and in sport organizations in the Czech Republic. The
aim of the project was formulated as follows: To develop knowledge about the
influence and the meaning of gender-relations in the lives of female athletes in the
Czech Republic. One of the research questions was designed to survey the amount
of harassment experienced by female athletes. This is the only study done in Czech
sport on this subject. The participants, 595 female athletes and exercisers from all
areas of the Czech Republic, answered a structured questionnaire. The athletes represented
68 different sport disciplines and physical activities. The youngest
respondent one 15 years old and the oldest 55: the average age was 23 years. 226
participants were 20 years old or less. In addition to the questionnaire a semi-structured
interview was conducted with nine elite level athletes who had been sexually
harassed by a coach.
For analytical purposes the participants were divided into three groups: elite
level athletes (N=229), non-elite level athletes (N=224) and exercisers (N=142). To
be considered as elite, the athletes had to practise at least four times a week and
either have participated at the international level during the past two years or in the
Olympic Games, World Championship or European Championship. The non-elite
level group consisted of those athletes who were competing but who did not qualify
for the elite group. The exercisers were those who practised sport but did not
compete. The elite athletes were the youngest (average age of 22 years) and the
exercisers the oldest (average age 24 years).
Key findings
Though this study primarily surveyed experiences of sexual harassment, the
questionnaire contained one question about their experiences of physical
harassment. This latter question was formulated as follows: “Have you ever been
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