Promote Support, Respect to Help Prevent Harassment of Athletes

By Yuji Kondo

8:00 JST, April 25, 2026

Online defamation, excessive criticism and sexual harassment of athletes through photos and videos have become a serious global issue. In Japan, a project called “RESPECTion!” was launched in March with the aim of eradicating such abuse. This new initiative seeks to connect athletes and fans through the power of support and eliminate malicious slander that hinders athletes’ endeavors.

RESPECTion is a portmanteau of “respect” and “action.” It embodies a commitment not only to refrain from slandering athletes but also to promote all actions that ensure more athletes are respected and treated with dignity.

The project is led by the RESPECTion! Promotion Committee, which includes current and former athletes and experts. The goal is to promote activities through a collaboration among athletes, organizations, companies and the media. Supporting organizations include the Japan Sports Agency, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), and the Kansai Economic Federation.

“For athletes in the competitive world, the support of the public is their greatest source of strength. Heartless words must never be allowed to hinder their efforts,” Susumu Hara, the long-distance coach for the Aoyama Gakuin University track and field team and a co-representative of the initiative, said at a press conference held in Tokyo on March 26. “Rather than blaming them for failure, we want to spread a culture of passionate respect nationwide — one that honors their indomitable spirit and helps us all grow together. Let’s use the power of support to brighten and transform society.”

In Japan, the Basic Act on Sports was amended in 2025, legally clarifying measures to protect athletes from online defamation and abuse. However, improving the current situation is no easy task.

According to the Japanese Olympic Committee, approximately 62,000 posts slandering athletes connected with this year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics were confirmed on social media and other platforms between Jan. 18 and Feb. 13. Of these, the JOC requested the removal of 1,055 posts, and 198 were reportedly deleted. Cases were confirmed in which athletes who withdrew due to injuries sustained just before the Games were subjected to abuse on social media.

To protect athletes and officials during the Winter Olympics, the JOC set up an office in Milan dedicated to countering defamation and slander. Six staff members were stationed there, working in coordination with the Tokyo office of the JOC and utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor posts related to Japanese athletes around the clock.

There was also a series of online attacks against athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Race walker Ayane Yanai withdrew from her individual event to focus on the relay. As a result, her social media was flooded with critical posts calling her selfish. “I was hurt by the harsh words from so many people,” Yanai said. “I get nervous and emotionally fragile before a competition. I hope incidents like this will decrease, even if only slightly.”

Christa Deguchi, a Canadian representative raised in Japan who won the gold medal in the women’s 57kg judo category, received a steady stream of posts attacking her for fighting passively. Deguchi wrote on her social media, “There’s no need to go out of your way to say things that make others sad.”

The Japanese Olympic Committee had advised athletes to refrain from posting on social media during the Olympics and provided guidance on how to block messages. Additionally, the JOC issued a statement prior to the Games asking people to “observe proper etiquette when posting” and indicated that it would consider legal action against particularly malicious posts. However, several national team athletes fell victim to such abuse.

To improve this situation, RESPECTion! has presented the following five-point declaration:

1. Make RESPECT a culture

2. Heartfelt support gives strength

3. Behind every athlete is a human being

4. Cheer on the spirit of challenge

5. Take action to change society

The first point calls for creating a culture that respects the efforts and backgrounds of athletes, while the second highlights how heartfelt support brings out athletes’ peak performance. Number three urges people to pause and consider athletes’ feelings before posting words or images that amount to criticism or sexual harassment, and four recommends not overly blaming athletes for failures, but instead praising their courage to keep challenging themselves. The aim is to realize the fifth point, “ACTION to Change Society,” by ensuring that principles one through four take root domestically.

2026 marks the starting year for this initiative. The RESPECTion! Promotion Committee seeks to instill recognition across a wide range of generations that “spreading slander and abuse on social media is uncool and outdated.” To that end, the committee aims to raise awareness of the project during events such as this summer’s FIFA World Cup and the Asian Games this fall, and to promote a “shift in values.”

Furthermore, the committee will promote “changing people’s behavior” based on these new values in 2027, and it has set a goal of “changing the culture” of supporting athletes by 2028 — the year of the Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics.

Taisuke Matsumoto, a professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences,Waseda University and a co-representative of the project, emphasized its significance. “Cyberbullying and various forms of harassment on social media may be caused by a sense of stagnation in our times, stemming from long-term economic malaise and anxiety about the future,” Matsumoto said. “Respect is one key concept for breaking through this sense of stagnation.”

Ayumi Tanimoto, a member of the steering committee and a gold medalist in women’s judo at the Athens and Beijing Olympics, said: “Heartless words have a significant impact on athletes’ performance. Through this new project, I want to help build a society where we support one another.”

This unique endeavor aims not only to crack down on slander and sexual harassment but also to reduce such incidents by fostering a new culture of support and respect. Article 1 of the 17-article constitution, enacted in 604, enshrines one of Japan’s most famous and fundamental philosophies: “Harmony is to be held in high esteem.” We will closely watch the progress of “RESPECTion,” which seeks to re-embody that principle within the sports world.

Political Pulse appears every Saturday.

Yuji Kondo

Yuji Kondo is a senior writer in the Sports Department of The Yomiuri Shimbun.