Leaked Report Shows Swimming Australia Covered Up Investigation’s Misogynistic Findings

The full investigation conducted nearly two years ago into Swimming Australia’s treatment of women and girls has been revealed and the findings are harrowing.

In December 2021, investigators Chris Ronalds, Katherine Bates and Alex Parker issued a 114-page review that found female athletes and coaches had been subjected to physical and mental abuse, groping, sexual innuendo, and body shaming in Australian swimming.

Swimming Australia didn’t publically release the full report—instead issuing a response that didn’t fully confront all of the issues presented—claiming that it couldn’t make the review public due to confidentiality.

However, a leaked version of the report now shows that no one is identified, leading to questions as to why Swimming Australia refused to publish the findings.

The review, entitled “Beneath The Surface: The Experience of Women and Girls In Swimming,” heard from 158 participants in the sport, ranging from swimmers to coaches, officials, volunteers and administrators.

The Herald Sun has seen a leaked version of the report that sheds light on many troubling findings, including abuse claims and statements from anonymous survivors.

The Findings Included:

• Multiple reports indicated that skinfold tests and weigh-ins were used to body shame and publically humiliate swimmers, leading to eating disorders, self-harm and quitting the sport. “I wasn’t a naturally thin girl and I starved myself because the coach told me my body would ‘look more palatable’ to selectors,” one swimmer said.
• “What am I going to do with your big f—king hips,” one swimmer was told. “You’re fat and that is why you are slow. Lay off the dessert.”
• Swimming Australia was found to rarely selects a female to be a part of their coaching staff at major international events—they had zero female coaches on the staff at the Tokyo Olympics where women won eight of the nine gold medals in the pool. “I don’t see how they can justify not taking a single woman,” one coach said. “We have several who are of that standard, but they get overlooked because it’s just a big boys’ club.”
• One swimmer said seeing an all-male (and old male) coaching staff at the Games made her “blood boil.” A senior Swimming Australia staff member had said that no female coaches met the criteria for selection.
• A full section of the report was devoted to the swimmer-coach relationships within the sport which was found to be similar to a parent-child dynamic—with the coach in a dominant, controlling position.
• “I will always wonder how I let this happen to my daughter,” one parent said. “I should have spoken up, but instead I trusted the coach would help her realize her dreams. When she complained about her treatment, I told her: ‘This is the best thing for her swimming.’ I now watch her in and out of therapy, battling an eating disorder – I think I ruined in her life.”
• Male coaches didn’t want to talk about or understand the symptoms that female athletes were going through on their menstrual cycles.
• Female coaches reported having their best athletes poached by other clubs or teams, hurting their chances of being named to a national staff.
• Young female swimmers reported being touched inappropriately by male training partners and not feeling comfortable reporting it to male coaches. “With few female coaches around, the male coaches get very egotistical, which starts the toxic boys club and has a hugely negative impact,” one swimmer said.
• Swimmers or staff who were gay were told to hide it.
• Most participants subjected to abuse gave up rather than reporting it because they didn’t trust the governing body.
• Respondents said that they felt “abandoned” and “absolutely disgusted” at the lack of support shown them by Swimming Australia after disclosing personal mental and physical health challenges.

It’s also worth noting that Olympic medalist Maddie Groves went public with allegations in December 2021 that she was sexually abused as a teenager by a man who was still working in swimming.

Former Swimming Australia President Kieren Perkins came under fire for comments he made shortly after the investigation opened discouraging whistleblowers from coming forward, though the scrutiny only became public in recent days.

During a radio interview shortly after the Tokyo Olympics, Perkins unintentionally steered away witnesses by reinforcing fear that complaints would not be taken seriously.

“Swimming is in a great place at the moment,” he said at the time. “That doesn’t mean that we’re perfect, it doesn’t mean there’s not challenges, but to suggest that there’s some kind of deep endemic issues is miles away from the mark– I defy anyone to suggest there’s a culture issue in swimming at the moment.”

THE RESPONSE

Swimming Australia issued a press release on Saturday responding to the leaked report, vowing its commitment to the 46 recommendations made in the initial response in early 2022.

“It is important to highlight that much work has been done, both before the report was delivered and since, to create a better environment for our athletes, and equip our coaches and support staff with the best tools available, and we will continue to commit to the change to make our sport a safe and inclusive environment,” the organization said.

“It is important to note, there have been great strides in the past two years in response to this report and as an organization we will continue to honor the confidentiality guaranteed to participants.

“The themes of the report are clear in the recommendations and provide public accountability for our steps forward, as documented on our website.”

Swimming Australia said it considered making the full report public but “decided against release due to the significant risk to the confidentiality, and potentially mental health, of those that provided input.”

The governing body added that high-performance coaches have received education on women’s health issues, that it has published guidelines on managing eating disorders, and said there has been a female coach on every senior and junior staff since Tokyo and they’re “committed to continuing the focus on the development of female coaching pathways and identifying and removing barriers in the system.”

Australian swimming legend Dawn Fraser was among the high-profile names to speak out following the news coming out, with the four-time Olympic champion saying that she’s “very disappointed in the way that Swimming Australia is being handled.”

“It’s terrible, it’s very embarrassing,” said the 86-year-old Fraser, according to The Australian. “I’ve had a couple of young girls – 14 or 15 years of age – come up to me and tell me ‘my coach says I’m too fat’.

“I ask them if they’ve reported it but they say ‘I’m too frightened’. I tell them to not be frightened because I’ll back them up … you’ve got to speak up and be very strong with the words that you use.”

Fraser called for change atop the organization despite it having an incredibly high turnover in leadership in recent years.

Swimming Australia will look to dig itself out of a different jam, voting to implement a new constitution that will prevent a ban from World Aquatics, on October 20.