Melbourne, Australia. Madeline Groves is a competitive swimmer based in Australia. She goes by her nickname Maddie, and at 26-years-old, she already is a two-time Australian Olympic medalist.
Maddie was set to compete for the opportunity to go to the Tokyo Games being held this July, but now she’s no longer competing after she said there are perverts in the sport.
Three days ago, Maddie announced on Instagram that she was not going to be part of the trials in Adelaide.
Instagram; pictured above is Maddie
“Hey hunnies, I’ve made the decision to not compete at Olympic Trials in Adelaide,” Maddie said, alongside a picture of her smiling in front of a pool.
She wore a black and white one-piece swimsuit with a print of a cartoon hand giving the middle finger.
Maddie pointed out that she was very grateful for the support she has received following her decision.
“I feel very relieved and I’m looking forward to racing at some other competitions later in the year (yeah sorry/not sorry, you haven’t got rid of me just yet!).”
“I’m so excited to watch everyone at trials (streaming on Amazon y’all) and to see who will be representing Australia in Tokyo – whatever happens, I genuinely think this will be one of the fastest Australian Swim Teams ever and I encourage everyone to get on the bandwagon early.”
Maddie then wished everyone that would still be competing in the trials luck.
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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