“Give that girl a burger!”
“You look sick.”
“Anorexia.”
“Your body looks so weak.”
“F***ing eat something.”
I could go on.
This is just a tiny percentage of the comments Eilish McColgan has been bombarded with in the past week alone after posting online a short clip of her training.
“Input” from observers on social media is now accepted as commonplace.
But the blatant abuse McColgan has to deal with is on another level to even many of her peers.
Day after day, the 34-year-old has disgusting abuse directed towards her about her appearance from those who think she’s “too thin”.
Admirably, McColgan has never been shy to call out the authors of this abuse - who, I’d bet my life savings, have literally no knowledge of what it takes to be an elite athlete and are certainly not one themselves - and her willingness to engage has served to highlight quite the volume of uninvited criticism that’s directed towards her.
McColgan posted online this week that she’s reluctant to give many interviews about this issue of online abuse directed towards her, and who can blame her for not wanting to use her precious energy talking about this profoundly depressing topic. There are a thousand things about McColgan that are infinitely more interesting than the fact she’s the target of online trolls; to name but a few of her successes, there’s her astonishing achievements as an athlete to her fascinating family story to the ‘Giving Back To Track’ programme she founded which aims to inspire children in Scotland from all backgrounds to become involved in athletics.
Indeed, if I had to recommend just one female athlete to any young, Scottish girl for her to look up to as a role model, I’d unquestionably choose McColgan.
She’s an astonishing athlete, something that’s clear both in her performances and when delving deeper into the journey she’s been on to get to this point.
From having to deal with the burden of pressure that comes with being the daughter of one of Scotland’s most-successful ever athletes, Liz McColgan, to having to overcome numerous injury set-backs throughout her career, the Dundonian is a remarkable individual.
Added to this, McColgan is intelligent, charismatic, personable and simply a really nice person.
All of these things are far more worthy of coverage than idiots online shouting that she needs to “eat a cheeseburger”.
It’s McColgan’s body that attracts almost all of the abuse. Yes, she’s tall and slim but to my professional athletes’ eye, she looks incredibly fit and strong. Never once have I ever looked at McColgan and thought she looks like anything other than a finely-tuned elite athlete.
But in saying this, I realise I’m being dragged into the same game as the trolls - I’m passing comment, which is entirely unsolicited, on McColgan’s appearance.
Her appearance matters not a jot. The only thing that matters - or should matter - is how fast she can run, and how successful she is as a professional athlete which, on both these counts, it’s clear there’s little to worry about. Given she’s set Scottish, British and European records in recent years, as well as winning more than a few major championships medals, it’s not hard to believe she’s in prime health.
That’s the only thing of relevance here. And, as McColgan herself has reiterated, she does not have any issues health-wise (she has regular medical checks which confirm this) and, as she wrote this week: “Some people have no comprehension of how much you have to fuel your body to do this type of training. Bunch of clowns.”
The answer suggested by some is for female athletes to “get off social media” if they dislike the comments they receive.
Firstly, a woman shouldn’t have to lock themselves away in order to not be publicly abused.
Secondly, social media is an excellent way to engage with fans.
And thirdly, many female athletes, including McColgan, use social media as a tool to boost their income whether that be directly from the social media platforms or by promoting their sponsors.
For most, removing themselves from social media is just not a viable option financially.
It should be noted that McColgan also gets regular positive comments online from those praising and encouraging her. But, as we all know, it’s the negative ones that often hit harder.
Depressingly, McColgan is not the only female athlete who has to deal with endless comments about their appearance.
Whether it’s too fat, too muscly, too thin or too manly, the abuse is consistent.
And it’s disgusting.
Every professional athlete knows they’ll have to deal with the stress and pressure of competing. But what they do not, quite rightly, expect is to be on the receiving end of reams of uninvited comments on their appearance.
McColgan is as well-equipped as anyone to deal with this rubbish.
She seems remarkably and refreshingly unaffected by who she quite rightly calls “these clowns” who comment on her body.
Her ability to deal with the abuse is just another thing for which to admire her.
But herein lies the issue; not everyone will be as resilient as McColgan. I’ve not spoken to a soul who thinks being on the receiving end of such abuse would be easy to cope with and indeed, many would be severely and perhaps irreparably affected by the daily strain of reading these comments about themselves.
So while McColgan seems able to brush them off, it makes it no less vile.
This constant commentary on how female athletes look - and make no mistake that female athletes are the target of this far more often than male athletes - must stop.
It would be great to think that McColgan calling it out will help, and it may indeed help a little. But in reality, her efforts are likely to make a negligible difference to the dirge that female athletes as a whole have to put up with on a daily basis.
This is just another reminder of how difficult it can be to be a female athlete in the public eye. And it makes the success of McColgan and others despite the abuse they have to deal with even more impressive.
