Bre Avery Zacharski
Instagram; pictured above is a screenshot of Maddie’s announcement that she was no longer competing in the trials
On June 9th, Maddie took screenshots of her post on Instagram and shared it on Twitter, along with the following caption:
“Let this be a lesson to all misogynistic perverts in sport and their boot lickers – You can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus. Time’s UP.”
Instagram; pictured above is a screenshot Maddie shared of her Tweet caption on why she was forgoing the trials
Then yesterday, Maddie shared that she has received an overwhelming amount of support following her decision and public announcement.
She clarified that she did consider going through with the trials, before thinking it was best to not take the spot away from someone that was entirely focused.
She said that there was not one thing that led to her choice; it was the buildup of years of her having seen people turn a blind eye to “bad behavior.”
“If starting this conversation will save even just one young girl from something like being told to lose weight or diet, not going to the Olympics will have been worth it,” Maddie explained.
You can follow Maddie on Instagram here.
Instagram; pictured above Maddie smiles
