Darlene MacDonald

Mother, Sport Management, taekwondo aficionado and connoisseur (she/her)

[Habib Khan @HabibKhanT]

Banned from sports in Afghanistan by the Taliban, para-taekwondo athlete Zakia Khodadadi fled her homeland, joined the refugee team at the Paris Paralympics, and won a bronze medal. The women of Afghanistan are resilient.

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

Many athletes have been harmed over decades by the “everyone does it!” excuse.

In gymnastics, it was: everyone starves their athletes, pushes them through injury, screams at them, controls their lives + bodies.

Everyone does it. It’s justified.

And athletes pay the price.

[Blush Unseen @TheMopingOwl]

@ask_aubry Got a feeling this is how Emma Wodehouse & Mr Knightley would pan out these days (21 and 38 - & he reminisces about holding her as a baby).

[Athletes Empowered @athletes_empwrd]

2/ Unfortunately, we know that competing athletes will not be immune from harm during these Games. We stand in solidarity with those who have suffered at the hands of this system, and we are committed to ushering in a new world of sport where every athlete can play and compete

[Athletes Empowered @athletes_empwrd]

3/ with dignity, safety, and respect.

Our support extends to all those involved in the Games - athletes, families, and fans. We are also holding space for those athletes whose Olympic dreams and sporting careers were cut short by abusive and discriminatory practices,

[Athletes Empowered @athletes_empwrd]

1/ We are wishing all athletes a safe and happy Olympic Games. However, as we honour their remarkable achievements, we must also recognize the historical and ongoing harms that plague the world of sport, including the abuse, discrimination & exploitation faced by many athletes.

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

Respectfully, it’s galling and unbelievably frustrating how cheating (whether via drone or doping) is seemingly viewed as the WORST thing in sport, when we have had 2+ years of horrific abuse stories from athlete survivors.

That should be the scandal that shocks the conscience.

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

Spare us the performative outrage. Athletes and sport stakeholders have testified at two committees over two years that we need a national inquiry into our entire sport system because of its abuse and corruption.

You refused.

Words mean nothing. Your actions speak louder.

[Darlene MacDonald @darmac53]

@AbbySpadafora The sad thing is she’s talking about 1 known rapist, but I guarantee there are many more; some will be outed later, many won’t, but all of them are suspected by others around them. If only the system was healthy enough that they felt comfortable to take action and see results

[Darlene MacDonald @darmac53]

Great news to hear about some accountability in sport! https://t.co/Yy8cfQ9Nrq

[Jessica G. @jeccagae]

I’m so blessed to be working alongside these incredible humans dedicated to creating wholistic change and ensuring that others have the opportunity for support & guidance that is lacking.

A year ago, I felt alone, isolated & silenced by the system; today is a different day!

[Athletes Empowered @athletes_empwrd]

New name. New mission.

Athletes Empowered was the natural evolution of Gymnasts for Change Canada. Through our work with G4C, it became clear that abuse was running rampant through all sports, not just gymnastics.

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

Domestically and globally, the sport system is a corrupt, abusive mechanism designed for a select elite to get rich off the exploitation of athletes. Time for a complete overhaul.

[AskAubry 🦋 🐆🦝 @ask_aubry]

Me and this orange cat on the same page.

[Darlene MacDonald @darmac53]

@KirstyDuncanMP Will the commission actually exist or was the announcement just a diversion to hide that the Sport minister is doing absolutely not nothing to address the issue of rampant abuse in sport?

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

There is no integrity in this system. Not when you have rampant, systemic abuse of athletes which doping is part+parcel o.

You know how you restore integrity? Investigation. Accountability. And a rebuild of the system.

Where’s that Commission, @CQualtro? 5 months of nothing.

[Amelia C (she/her) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @ameliagrace1989]

The harm done to victim-survivors by announcing a Commission and then doing *nothing* with it for months is immeasurable.

It’s even more galling when @CQualtro refused to bring a proper Inquiry as asked for by advocates, under the guise of being “trauma-informed”. Infuriating.

[Kirsty Duncan @KirstyDuncanPhD]

A Commission into abuse in sport was announced 4 months ago.

Abuse cases continue to be exposed in the media, and still, there is no mandate, details and a start date.

Will the Commission have the necessary teeth to compel those who were in charge to testify?

[Darlene MacDonald @darmac53]

@rwesthead So the court is promoting rape culture by letting the sexual assaulter get off without jail time while the victim has to live with it for the rest of her life. Furthermore, the sexual assaulter, like way too many others, has found a place in sport.
Typical

[Abby Spadafora @AbbySpadafora]

Today should have been our daughter's last dance comp of the season. Instead we pulled her from the studio last week because teammates taunted bullied & physically assaulted her.
The punishment: a "warning"
@CQualtro every day without an inquiry is another day children are harmed