Cate Campbell Reveals “Scary” Rape Threat Received In Late-Night Phone Call

Australian Olympic champion Cate Campbell says she received an anonymous late-night phone call from a stranger threatening sexual abuse.

Campbell, an eight-time Olympic medalist in the pool who has long been outspoken on the challenges facing today’s modern athlete, published a column earlier this week for the Herald Sun entitled “Why female athletes can’t just ‘get off social media'” describing her experiences with abuse.

In a Wednesday morning interview with The Today Show in Australia, Campbell revealed she received an anonymous threat the night after the article was published.

“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 1 am,” she said, according to Fox Sports in Australia.

“[The caller] left a message saying that if I didn’t pick up the f—ing phone they were going to f—ing rape me.

“I think that that 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.”

The 30-year-old said that she no longer reads comments left on her social media platforms, resulting in her missing out on the vast majority of the feedback which is in support of her.

“It’s been incredibly tough, it’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.

“But, unfortunately, there 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.”

In August 2018, Campbell penned an open letter addressing the “keyboard warriors” who attacked her online after her performance at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where she came in as the favorite for gold in the women’s 100 freestyle but faded to sixth place, more than a second slower than the world record she had set just one month prior.

“I 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.

“But there’s a huge personal cost of going through and looking at what people have said about you.

“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,” she said.

 

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Campbell has taken an extended break out of the water since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but has been working her way back into the competition pool of late and was racing this week at the Australian Championships in Queensland.

She finished third in the women’s 50 free (24.88) and tied for fifth in the 100 free (53.78), and her next big test will be Australia’s 2023 World Championship Trials in June. However, Campbell has already declared she won’t race at the World Championship regardless of how she fares, looking solely at qualifying for a fifth Olympics next summer in Paris.