Talent Inclusion Series - Sport England
SPORT
A few years ago, I was in a gym environment doing deadlifts, and discovered that I was being photographed by a fellow male athlete inappropriately. Photos were being captured that zoomed in on intimate areas of my body, without my consent or awareness until after the fact. I remember feeling embarrassed and ashamed; there was a pressure to brush it off or laugh it off and move on, rather than challenge. Sadly this was not the first occasion for this to happen, and I had a repeated experience of this at a training camp some years later, this time by a stranger during a recovery session in the sauna. This time, I was with a fellow female athlete around my age. She gently made me aware of the situation, and asked if I would like for her to challenge the man in question. I said no, but then I hesitated and changed my mind. I decided enough was enough. She strongly challenged the man on his actions, and several other athletes, including male athletes, rallied around us to hold the man to account. He deleted the photographs, and (I hope!) learnt his lesson.
A few years ago I spoke to BBC Sport about my experiences of sexism, racism and body image in sport. With more than 65% of women surveyed having experienced sexism in sport it was eye opening to hear reactions from fellow women in sport sharing their experiences.
Fast forward a few years, and I took part in a Sports England event supported by SportsAid, aiming to frame the barriers to inclusion in sport and develop policy to address these. I shared my story, and we discussed how behaviours like these contribute to a wider culture of sexism in sport, and the need to address all forms of harassment within sporting environments. In drafting proposals to address this, education was a key component, for example, educating on the most proactive behaviours to address situations like these as a bystander.
Barriers to inclusion in sport extend beyond sexism. We discussed how ableism affects inclusion of para athletes in sporting events, including a lack of accessibility of key sports facilities and the lack of parity between able-bodied and disability sport competitions, which can be treated as tokenistic rather than being afforded the visibility they deserve. A para athlete shared their experience of a wheelchair match taking place after an able-bodied sporting event, and large swathes of the audience deciding to take a lunch break leading to a near empty audience for the wheelchair athletes. We decided to explicitly call out parity and equity among groups in sport with different protected characteristics as part of policy recommendations.
We discussed how racism impacts inclusion in training venues and international competitions, exchanging stories of discrimination and the need for more education and support. For example, a few years ago when I was competing for Great Britain in a small town in Northern Europe, I experienced racist harassment when I went out on a walk on my own. A fellow athlete shared similar experiences, noting how as a minority in her sport, her safety needs weren’t addressed when it came to vulnerability to racist abuse when evaluating competition locations for safety concerns. We recommended making research into safety concerns of competition locations address vulnerable groups needs, such as accessibility needs, and protection against racism and homophobia.
A constant theme within discussion was the need to elevate the athlete voice when it comes to policy creation by NGBs and NGOs. I feel privileged to work with SportsAid, who invited me to join their National Awards Committee shortly after I retired from elite sport, giving me a platform to share my experiences to directly shape their approach to support the next generation of sporting talent in the UK. I look forward to continuing to work with organisations like Sport England and SportsAid to promote inclusivity of talent pathways in UK sport. To support this important work, donate here or reach out to get involved in the next talent inclusion series!
Diane Modahl MBE, Head of Inclusion at Sport England
