Angry mum says her son was not forced to wear girls’ swimsuit

THE mother of a boy who was photographed wearing a girls’ swimsuit during an elite training session has vehemently defended swimming as a safe sport for children.

The mother of a boy pictured wearing girls' bathers has strongly denied another parent’s claim it was part of a coach’s humiliation ritual. Picture: iStock

THE mother of a boy who was photographed wearing a girls’ swimsuit during an elite training session has vehemently defended swimming as a safe sport for children.

Controversy is raging around swimming after Olympic hopeful Maddie Groves quit the trials citing a misogynistic and “pervy” culture, and former elite Australian swimmer-turned academic Jennifer McMahon revealed shocking allegations of young swimmers being bullied and fat-shamed by coaches.

Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves has alleged swimming is rife with misogyny and bullying.

The Australian on Monday published a photograph supplied by a concerned parent of another family’s 13-year-old boy wearing a girls’ swimsuit, which the parent claimed was part of a coach’s humiliation ritual for poor lap times at a high-performance swim club.

The parent — and another parent who witnessed the incident — both still insist their version of events is correct and one said they were willing to speak to Swimming Australia president Kieren Perkins about their concerns.

The Australian chose not to identify the child, the swim club, the pool or the state in which the photograph was taken in 2019.

But the boy’s mother has spoken up in angry defence of her child and the club at which he still swims, saying her son is distraught that the image has been misinterpreted.

On Monday evening Nine newspapers published a story in which the mother identified herself and the child.

She initially told Nine newspapers her son was “quite gender-fluid” and often wore a girls’ swimsuit but told The Australian yesterday this is not the case and her son is “really humiliated” by the public controversy.

The mother said there was “no way” the other parent could have misinterpreted what happened on the pool deck, which she said was the boy’s own lighthearted decision to put on a girls’ swimsuit because he’d left his own bathers at home.

She said the boy briefly wore the swimsuit, then took it off and went to do a cycle-training session instead.

“It was just: ‘There we go, should I swim? Oh my god, no togs (put on the girls’ swimmers), whoopsy, too small, off with them, we’ll do cycling, no more than that.”

The mother said she was present when the photograph was taken, and had double-checked with her son, who insisted he had put the swimsuit on voluntarily.

“It’s the narrative that annoys me, that mums are paying good money for coaches to abuse the kids,” the mother said.

Swimming's culture is under siege from former elite athletes who say bullying is rife. Picture: iStock

“My goodness, we are fully there (on the pool deck during training) and we all want our kids to give up swimming so we can sleep in and save money.

“The elite swimmers, if they are being abused, I can’t understand why they don’t walk away and why the narrative is that they are victims. Why are women playing this victim card all the time — this narrative that we can’t stand up for ourselves,” she said.

The mother said swimming had been an entirely positive experience for her family, and that swimming parents understood that ambitious young swimmers had to train hard to succeed.

“Swimming Australia have been so kind, so fantastic. They have phoned every step of the way, (his coaches) aren’t worried about their own reputations, they’re worried about my children’s welfare. My son is worried about them — oh my God, how bad does this look for our club?” she said.

“My kids are super smart and they’re very perceptive. They are so verbal. They are the first to say: ‘I might be young but I still have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

“While they are respectful they’re not going to be abused and older brother’s not going to stand by while little brother’s being abused,” she said.

Two parents who said they witnessed the episode said on Tuesday they stood by their interpretation of what had happened.

One said they were open to giving their version of events to Swimming Australia president Kieran Perkins anonymously.

They maintained the coach went to a filing cabinet, pulled out the pair of “folded up” girls’ swimmers and passed them to the boy to put on for swimming “too slow”.

A parent confirmed again to The Australian they were “five metres” from where the incident happened.

“It shocked us, it was a gobsmacking moment, I would happily speak to Swimming Australia about what we saw,” they said.

“The swimmers did not seem shocked at all, and I wonder whether this is normal in their squad. I took the photograph because I just knew that without it, no one would believe me.”

On Tuesday night Swimming Australia released a statement saying the boy was “wearing a swimsuit that was gifted to him as a Christmas present. This changing of swimsuits was not a form of shaming or punitive action, as confirmed by the parties involved this evening.

“Swimming Australia has spoken to the mother of the child concerned and she is deeply upset her child has been shamed for wearing his choice of swimsuit.

“Regardless, Swimming Australia reiterates that any form of shaming behaviour will not be tolerated across any level of Swimming associated with our organisation. It doesn’t matter if this is at a home club level or a national arena. This is the clear policy of Swimming Australia.”