Mick Hartley

The hate of trans activists:

Olympian Sharron Davies said activists call her children’s school and abuse her kids over her views on trans women’s participation in sport.

The Olympic swimmer, former Gladiator and sports commentator, who attended 12 consecutive Olympic Games, was vilified after speaking out against biological males competing in women’s sport.

She also said she has not received enough support from fellow athletes who are too scared to speak up and lose “revenue”.

Ms Davies, 60, told the Off Air podcast she is inundated by trolls who try to stop her “debating and presenting the science”.

She said “Activists [ring] every single job I have, ringing every single charity, ringing my children’s schools, abusing my kids, calling me every name under the sun.

”[They say] I am a bigot, I’m a homophobe, obviously a transphobe. I’m even a racist which I find hilarious because I have got mixed-race kids.”

She added: “They use these terms not to actually mean it, they use it to bully. They use it to shut you up and to stop you trying to debate and present the science.”

Ms Davies agreed that the abuse she has been receiving is misogynistic, adding many male athletes have not supported her in her argument.

She said: “I think they keep their heads down because they don’t want it to affect their revenue.

“In 2017 to 2018, over a weekend I contacted 60 of my friends in the world of sport.

“Every single one of those is an Olympic medallist or a world champion and every single one of those is a household name.

“More than half of them were men. Only five of that 60 have ever put their head above the parapet.”

On one side, reasoned argument: on the other, threats and abuse.