Part 3 GLOBAL ISSUES: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE RESEARCH

Perhaps amongst the most disturbing of findings was that 8.6% of the
responding athletes report experiencing forced sexual intercourse (oral,
vaginal, anal). Of these athletes, more than one in 5 (21.7%) were under the
age of 16 years when this occurred and more males than females reported
such abuse. Over 16 years of age, the figures reversed with only 22% being
males: however, 40% of the perpetrators were reported to be 5 to 27 years
older than the athlete they abused.
Finally, few athletes followed up their harassment and abuse
experiences with an official complaint and, even when a complaint was made,
the athletes were unlikely to have been satisfied with the process or the
outcome. Either the athletes did not have faith in the complaint process or felt
too much was at risk if they spoke out. Whatever the case, the great majority
chose of felt pressure to be silent, hence the name of the subsequent
research report. 13
Coaches, and mostly male coaches, were the most likely to be
identified as the perpetrators of sexual harassment and abuse. Key features
of these experiences for the athletes were their physical and social isolation
from other athletes or from social supports. This not only made them more
vulnerable to abuse but also made them less likely to disclose such abuse.
Many of the sexual abuse incidents were described or ’framed’ as
relationships, 14 though they involved athletes sometimes much younger than
the abusers. The abuse continued over extended periods of time and, most
likely, still remains unreported to this day.
Central to the reported sexual harassment and abuse amongst high
performance athletes was that the experiences were of concern to athletes
but were unreported and gendered in nature. The experiences ranged from
unwanted comments and sexual touching to violent rape. The harassment or
abuse occurred on playing fields, tracks, ice rinks, pools or waterways, in
locker rooms, on buses, in cars, in hotel rooms and in elevators. It happened
on team trips, training courses, at conferences and at team parties. It
happened to members of the public and sport participants in sport facilities
before, during and after sport events. It usually happened repeatedly over a
short or sometimes long period of time. Most often it happened in private.
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