{"id":287291,"date":"2023-04-19T00:11:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T00:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=287291"},"modified":"2023-04-19T01:59:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T01:59:15","slug":"strangers-scary-1am-phone-call-rocks-olympic-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=287291","title":{"rendered":"Stranger's 'scary' 1am phone call rocks Olympic star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian swimming<\/a> superstar Cate Campbell<\/a> has detailed a harrowing story after receiving a threatening phone call in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

Throughout her career, Campbell has bravely spoken out about the magnitude of online abuse directed at sportspeople, particularly female athletes, and the impacts of trolling.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's Today<\/em>, Campbell shared a recent case of how online abuse crossed over to a physical threat of sexual violence.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

"I had a scary experience just the other day, I released an article talking about the online abuse that I had received and that night I received a phone call at 1am," she said.<\/p>\n

"[The caller] left a message \ufeffsaying that if I didn't pick up the f—ing phone they were going to f—ing rape me.<\/p>\n

"I think that \ufeffthat experience isn't unique to me, it's not unique to many female figures online and the scary thing is how threatened I felt about it and that my personal safety was in danger."<\/p>\n

While not isolating online abuse to female athletes, Campbell, the chair of the Australian Olympics Committee's athlete's commission<\/a>, \ufeffexplained that women are an easy target online.<\/p>\n

According to a study conducted by World Athletics following the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, female athletes were the target of 87 per cent of all social media abuse during the Games.<\/p>\n

Stream the Australian Swimming Championships live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>! \ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"I'm not saying that \ufeffonline abuse is unique to females, I know that we have seen some horrific racial abuse levelled in the NRL and AFL," Campbell said.<\/p>\n

"But I think that the nature of the abuse when it is directed at females is much more predatory and feels a lot more threatening because by nature we are a bit more vulnerable."<\/p>\n

In discussing the challenges \ufeffof navigating social media, Campbell explained how she approaches her presence online.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CpltopvBKwC\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

"It's been incredibly tough, \ufeffit's made me completely switch off from feedback on social media – which is then really awful because I know that there are so many wonderful people out there who want to send me messages of love and support," she said.<\/p>\n

"But, unfortunately, \ufeffthere is a small minority of people who will send pretty disgusting things. So, I've just had to switch off from it all which then means I'm missing out on opportunities to engage with my supporters who have been along this journey with me."<\/p>\n

While some would argue that the solution is \ufeffto simply remove yourself from social networks, this is not an option for many female athletes who rely on social media for sponsorship and income, Campbell said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffFor those people who say, 'Just get off social media'. You are victim blaming," she added.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffJust as we think that women should be able to walk home at night, women should be able to exist safely on social media.<\/p>\n

"So, if you're \ufeffpointing this out, you're victim blaming and you are part of the problem because you are pointing at the victim and not the perpetrators.<\/p>\n

"It's not fixing the problem."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Campbell also detailed the direct \ufeffimpact online abuse can have on athletes, especially when preparing for elite competition.<\/p>\n

\"Cate<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI don't want to wade into the muck and so I have to completely abstain, but it's really hard because what do you do? Because if you're ignoring it are you then condoning it? If you're not engaging with it and calling it out, then you're not standing for change," she said.<\/p>\n

"But there's a \ufeffhuge personal cost of going through and looking at what people have said about you.<\/p>\n

"These are often the things you secretly think about yourself and when you see that confirmed, it's like your deepest, darkest fears are confirmed at that moment and it can be completely devastating."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian swimming superstar Cate Campbell has detailed a harrowing story after receiving a threatening phone call in the middle of the night. Throughout her career, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":287293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=287291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287295,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287291\/revisions\/287295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/287293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=287291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=287291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=287291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}