Australian middle-distance runner Oliver Hoare has revealed he copped abuse on social media following his disappointing performance in the men’s 1500m heats.
The 27-year-old, who won gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, got his Olympics campaign off to a horror start on Friday after finishing third-last in the opening heat with a time of 3:39.11.
Hoare was given a second chance during Saturday’s repechage round, needing to finish in the top three to qualify for the semi-finals. However, the Sydneysider could only managed fifth, crossing the line four seconds after the third finisher with a time of 3:34.00.
After recovering from a sports hernia that forced him to miss last year’s world championships, Hoare was in career-best form heading into the Paris Olympics having won the men’s mile event at last month’s London Diamond League.
Speaking to reporters following his Olympic exit, Hoare confessed he had been targeted by online trolls after his heats run, affecting his preparation for the repechage round.
“That (heat) was a terrible race, and I’ve been abused on Instagram, so I did delete it,” Hoare said, as reported by News Corp.
“I probably should have deleted Instagram before I went into the village, but I miss my friends. It’s an easy way of communication when you’re not living at home.
“So that was tough. I think that kind of affected me a little bit, I haven’t slept great.”
Aside from the hateful direct messages, Hoare also revealed comments were left on pictures of his girlfriend.
“If I have a bad race or if something goes wrong, there could be a possibility of that happening, and I have to just tell it to piss off,” Hoare continued.
“They don’t know that I couldn’t walk in November, they don’t know what a lot of athletes go through and sometimes it’s their day, sometimes it isn’t.”
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Elsewhere, Australian sprinter Bree Masters, who qualified for the women’s 100m semi-finals earlier this week, said she has learned to ignore social media abuse.
“I’ve been on social media for a lot of years now and I’ve been doing it as a job,” Masters said.
“You get hate messages, you get really nice messages, and you just kind of got to block out the nasty ones.
“I just kind of put it aside and I’m very focused on me and pleasing the people that support me, like my family and my friends and my coaches.
“And if I’ve done them proud, that’s all that matters to me.
“I don’t really take comments from people I don’t know on social media.”
Masters, the Australian woman to qualify for the Olympic 100m semi-finals since 2000, finished seventh in her semi after clocking a time of 11.34s.
Source Agencies
