Olympians Viciously Body Shamed By Haters For Their Otherwise Fit And Healthy Bodies

By Samantha in Sports On 3rd February 2018
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#1 Leslie Jones Mocked For Her Unflattering Swimsuit Look During "London Games," 2012

Unfortunately, the Olympians who are busy in getting medals for their country are also not spared from this vicious cycle of bullying and are fat shamed even when they are participating in events. Australian Swimmer Leslie John was brutally fat-shamed during London Games in 2012.

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Jones physique was compared with her previous year looks. The swimmer was mocked on public forums for her unflattering swimsuit look. Crossing the limits, even one magazine had their front page cover of Leslie Jones with a humiliating caption asking if she could fit in her bikini. This shows the level of respect the country has for its national heroes. Triple Gold Medalist later opened up about the humiliating experience and said, "To be called fat by a male journalist was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with," she said. And to question yourself as an athlete and your self-worth and if you're good enough to be there was probably one of the hardest things. I think you sort of get a bit of a resilience, probably a thick skin out of it. Probably a little bit too thick skin. I didn't let anybody in."

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#2 Alexa Moreno, A Mexican Gymnast Was Fat-Shamed During Rio, 2016

Moreno, 22 who ended up the 31st place in the artistic gymnastics qualifications was body-shamed by her so-called fans and was called rude names like a pig and "gorda" which translates to fat in Spanish and was told by her bullies that in her size almost 2 gymnasts could fit. According to NY Daily News, the Mexican gymnast weighed 99 pounds at the time.

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#3 Ethiopian swimmer Robel Kiros Habte's Was Also The Target Of Fat-Shaming At Rio Games, 2016

Robel Kiros lost the Rio Olympics 2016 after he lost the men's 100-meter freestyle which was attributed to his heavyweight. Kiros admitted his defeat and stated, "The last 50 meters was much too hard for me. I want to be famous." But that didn't stop the online bullies from trampling him on his weight and mocking him publicly.

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#4 Aly Raisman, Olympian Gymnast Faced Sexist Comments By A Male Fan

Aly Raisman's a two-time Olympic gymnast, an author and has been the Captain of the Fierce Five, called out a man for his sexist comments who told her that he does not see any muscles on her body and continued to stare her shamelessly. Raisman took to Twitter to call out man and said she found the whole experience "rude and uncomfortable" and tweeted, "If you're a man who can't compliment a girl's muscles, you are sexist. Get over yourself. Are you kidding me? It's 2017. When will this change?"

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#5 Simon Biles Was Called Fat By Her Coach

The famous Olympic athlete and the author of a number of books, "Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion," "A Life in Balance," revealed in one of her books she was told by her coach that she is too fat that's why she lost the game. "You know why she crashed?" she revealed, quoting what her former coach said about her, "Because she’s too fat—that’s why. How does she expect to compete like that?"

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Biles won 2016 Olympic individual all-around, vault and floor gold medalist, and balance beam bronze medalist but instead of appreciating her achievements the young athlete was trolled on Instagram and was told that apparently, her body is "box-shaped" and that she has "no neck," also she was told she does not perfect hair. Reading such vile comments, how much more low a person can stoop to make people feel bad about their bodies.

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#6 Gabby Douglas Shamed For Not Having "Beautiful Hair"

During 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Gabby Douglas was trolled by the bullies for not having perfect hair and was told that she does not have a perfect ponytail and has applied too much gel in her hair. Douglas, however, was having none of it and sassily replied to the trolls, saying, "Really?! I won two gold medals and made history and my hair are trending?"

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#7 Sarah Robles, A Weightlifter Was Viciously Called Out On Her Gender By Transphobes

Sarah Robles, also known as the first weightlifter in the history of US who was able to win a gold medal in weightlifting in 16 years, Robles revealed she was called "It" by the trolls. The medal winner wrote a heartbreaking note on Instagram in which she asked a simple question that what her profession has to do with gender and why is she mocked over it, "I don't really get what gender has to do with a lot of things in my posts anyway but, that's beside the point. I've competed against a trans athlete and I have a couple of trans friends myself. I've been told that the 'GOLDEN RULE' isn't necessarily to treat others the way you want to be treated but, instead, 'to treat others the way they want to be treated.' That's how I live my life in regards to how I interact with other people even if their beliefs or behaviors differ from my own. Human beings, regardless of how they feel on the inside or look on the outside, should be treated with kindness and respect."

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#8 Michelle Carter Shamed For Not Having The Perfect Athlete Body

Carter was told by bullies that she looks like a man. The gold medalist told to a magazine, "I've been a bigger girl all my life. So if you're not one of the folks who expect all athletes to look like linebackers, you might be someone who assumes that all athletes come equipped with a six-pack and visible muscles everywhere. Sure, that works. But my body works too."

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#9 Cara Winger Body-Shamed By Her Ex

In an interview Winger opened up about her struggles with her looks and her journey of accepting her body, talking about her loser ex-boyfriend, she revealed, "He wasn't into girls that were bigger than [her]. I used to spend time wishing my limbs were skinnier or I had a firmer behind. But in the past few years, I’ve really honed in on how good my body feels when I’m in great competition shape."

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#10 Amanda Bingson's Photoshoot Was Targetted By Bullies For Not Being Perfect

Amanda Bigson was listed in the ESPN'S "Bodies We Want," but following her photo shoot the Internet went wild and was not able to accept Bigson's unideal body with a cellulite. She said on ESPN, "But everybody wants to fit that skinny, ideal picture that we see on billboards all the time, and people would always remind me that that wasn't me. So you just grow a thick skin. Like I said, I'll still whip your ass if we ever got into a fight."