Eilish McColgan has become the target of cyber-criticism once again.
A video of McColgan crossing the finish line at the Vitality 10,000 in London sparked a frenzy of viewers to comment on her weight.
The event organiser had posted videos of both the male and female winners of the race crossing the finish line. While the male athlete’s comments were immensely positive, McColgan’s comments were not.
Despite being perfectly healthy, McColgan said this is not the first time she has had her appearance and health be publicly criticised.
On her Instagram she posted a series of these judgemental comments from earlier in her life and showed how she has grown as an athlete.
“These comments are just a small snapshot of what I receive on social media,” she wrote. “Most of the time I can't be arsed commenting back, so I just delete it and block them. But every now and again, they catch me on a bad day and I call them out!”
McColgan described how she gained confidence in her body through her sport, and shifted her focus from appearance to competing.
McColgan is not the only female athlete to be frequently criticised for their health and appearance. Spectators frequently comment and conversate about whether they think a female athlete is too overweight to compete or is too skinny to be healthy.
McColgan notes the importance of having a variety of body types in the public eye, so children can identify with who they are watching compete.
“I know for a fact there are some youngsters that might look at me and go ‘actually I look like her’ and I think that’s the best thing about athletics,” McColgan told Athletics Weekly. “There will be some people that look at the TV and see Sophie McKinna throwing the shot put and think ‘I look like her, I want to be the next Sophie’ or they look like a high jumper.
McColgan is currently the Scottish record holder for the 10,000M race beating both the European and British records with a time of 30:19 at the Great Manchester Run.
Up next, McColgan announced her debut marathon will be the London Marathon this October.
