Eilish McColgan’s mother, Liz, has called out “demeaning and abusive” comments aimed at her daughter’s body on social media.
McColgan, a Commonwealth 10,000m champion, is currently training for her first London Marathon on April 27.
At the weekend, she posted a reel on Instagram of her training indoors in her native Scotland with a humorous caption about staring at a wall for 12 miles, but some of the comments questioned whether the four-time Olympian had an eating disorder or was sufficiently fuelled for her runs, including telling her to “go and eat”.
Liz, who was also a long-distance runner, competing at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics, wrote in a social media post of her own: “Stop the jealousy and abuse of women athletes online by posting ridiculous and stupid comments.
“My concern as a parent is not for Eilish as she is of a strong enough character to deal with these people.
“My concern is for other kids, athletes that are not so strong of character, to deal with demeaning and abusive comments on their appearance.”
Eilish posted a story highlighting some of the comments aimed at her, saying: “Being an elite, female athlete is wild. Some people have no comprehension of how much you have to FUEL your body to do this type of training. Bunch of clowns!”
Unfortunately, McColgan is no stranger to such comments, having insisted in 2019 that she is “naturally small” when similar remarks emerged on social media and adding that she was not surprised young women undergo cosmetic surgery.
As part of her training, McColgan finished second in the Burj2Burj half marathon event in Dubai last month, and regularly posts training videos on social media.
At the Olympics in Paris last summer, she finished 15th in the women’s 10,000m at the Stade de France, but since then has shifted focus on to the longer distances.
