The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) on Thursday warned that it would take “legal action,” including calling in the police, against “defamatory” online comments made about its athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, and urged the public to refrain from abusive language and not to increase the “anxiety and fear” of the athletes.
“We ask that all of you who support the athletes also think about the journey they have taken to get to this point, and watch and support each moment (of the competition),” the JOC said in a statement. readaccording to, translation Japanese Mainichi Shimbun The newspaper reported: “Your messages of encouragement and support via social media have been a great source of strength to athletes, coaches and managers. But at the same time, thoughtless names and criticism can not only be hurtful, but can also cause anxiety and fear.”
In a statement, the JOC noted that Japanese athletes had respected and supported their opponents where appropriate, citing examples of Japanese athletes asking spectators to stay quiet while their opponents were performing, and called on Japanese people to behave in the same way toward all athletes.
The JOC said it would “consider calling the police and taking legal action” in response to “insults or threats,” but did not provide details.
The statement did not say what steps the JOC would take beyond reporting the matter to police, or whether it would only involve Japanese authorities given that online hooligans could be posting from anywhere in the world. Japan already boasts tough defamation laws, but in May it amended its legal code to require social media platforms to “take measures such as setting up a contact point to accept removal requests and disclosing standards for removing posts.” according to According to Japan’s Kyodo News, the amendments to defamation laws come in the wake of the 2020 suicide of reality TV star and wrestler Kimura Hana, who had issued multiple statements before her death lamenting the barrage of online insults and cyberbullying she suffered.
“In the offensive tweets, which have since been deleted and translated, Kimura alluded to suffering from cyberbullying, writing that she “doesn’t want to be a human anymore” and “I want to be loved.” USA Today report at that time.
The JOC issued the statement after several of its athletes were reportedly the target of derogatory posts on social media, raising concerns about the impact on their mental health and performance. Kyodo News reported that race walker Ayane Yanai, who has withdrawn from individual competitions, was one of those affected.
“The harsh words from many people hurt me,” she says. Said The reporters said without going into details.
“Judo player Uta Abe has been criticized for breaking down in tears after losing in the second round of her 52kg match,” Kyodo News further reported.
In a report on the JOC statement, The Japan Times Former Olympic swimmer Tomoko Hagiwara reportedly published the message online on Sunday. remember Similar attacks on her character date back to the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.
“Only a handful make it to the finals and only a handful win a medal,” she wrote. “No athlete wants to perform poorly, and those who overcome their fears and anxieties to compete on the world stage should be celebrated. Put yourself in their shoes before you sign the goalpost.”
Tokyo will host its last Summer Olympics in 2021. World Athletics, a research institute, Published A post-Olympic study into online abuse of Olympic athletes found “alarming levels of abuse against athletes, including sexist, racist, transphobic and homophobic posts, as well as unsubstantiated doping accusations.” The abuse disproportionately targeted women and girls, with “female athletes being the targets of 87% of all abuse,” while female athletes made up 69% of all targeted athletes.
The report went on to say that “63 percent of the abuse identified was directed at just two athletes (Black women), and the two most common categories of abuse were sexist (29 percent) and racist (26 percent) in nature, accounting for 55 percent of all abuse identified. The athletes in question were not named.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Dealt with In May, two months before the Olympics, the IOC announced it would launch an artificial intelligence (AI) system to monitor “all major social media platforms” for content it deems inappropriate, in order to weed out potential online abuse of athletes.
“Any identified threats will be flagged to allow the relevant social media platforms to effectively deal with abusive messages, often before an athlete even sees them,” the IOC said in a statement announcing the program.The IOC boasted that its AI system would monitor comments made about 15,000 athletes, including Olympians and Paralympians, and more than 2,000 officials involved in the Paris Games.
In addition to the AI monitoring program, the IOC announced that it would allow countries to provide “registered, nationally accredited mental health professionals” at the Paris Games to support athletes who ask for help, and that the IOC itself would provide them with “educational materials and other information on harassment and abuse in sport.”
As of Friday, Japan Tied up Italy won a total of 17 medals, placing them sixth in the medal tally. Japanese athletes have won eight gold medals so far.
