Olympian Cate Campbell slams 'very dangerous' TikTok sunbaking trend

Olympic champion Cate Campbell has slammed dangerous TikTok tanning trends as she uses her melanoma survival story to promote sun safety awareness.

Gold medalist Cate Campbell of Australia celebrates on the podium after the Women's 100m Freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Picture: Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images

While Cate Campbell is using her profile to call for sun safety, the Olympic great is simultaneously watching social media users post harmful content about how to get a tan.

The 33-year-old speaks from experience as she herself is a sun cancer survivor, having had a melanoma cut from her arm in 2018.

“There is a real dichotomy in that,” Campbell told The Daily Telegraph.

“But I think that there’s real power in being able to change people’s minds and make connections in person as well as online.

“I think that we are slowly starting to change the narrative around this idea of that bronzed Aussie stereotype is the goal and something that you should aspire to want to be active, we want to enjoy our incredible environment and our climate, but we want to do that in a way that is safe.”

Pictured is 8 x Olympic medalist, melanoma survivor, Cate Campbell. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

Seeing the latest tanning trends on her Instagram and TikTok feed is “frustrating” though.

“There was this TikTok trend of who could have the worst tan line,” she explained.

“And it was people going out and burning themself to a crisp and people thinking that it was funny. Look, I am not going to sit on my high horse and say that I have never been sunburnt in my life, I absolutely have but I think that it’s choosing to go and do that to make content is really worrying and very dangerous.”

Australian Olympic champion Cate Campbell will share her journey with skin cancer in new, Australian made documentary Conquering Skin Cancer. Photo: Supplied

Campbell referenced the statistics, stating that Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world and that two out of three people will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

Just one burn in childhood will increase your chances of skin cancer as an adult.

Tanning trends have been criticised by cancer campaigners. Picture: TikTok

Campbell criticised the tanning trend, speaking from experience. Picture: Tik Tok by storm.

“I just don’t think that enough people are sharing the dangers of strong sun exposure, particularly to our young people, when platforms like TikTok promote that content as funny and people get engagement from it. And so I actually think that there’s an element of responsibility that platforms need to take.”

Gold medalists Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell pose on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Picture: Al Bello/Getty Images

On Saturday, Campbell took part in a She Runs event at Bondi with Avene to promote the sun safe message.

“It is not just something that you put on when you’re going to the beach in Australia, it needs to be part of your daily routine,” she said.

“It needs to be something that you don’t actually ever have to think about because you’re doing it all the time.”

Originally published as Olympian Cate Campbell slams 'very dangerous' TikTok sunbaking trend