Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) and The Embrace Collective have launched a new national campaign to challenge body shaming and encourage sporting environments that build body confidence.
The Sport is for Every BODY campaign launches during Children’s Week 2025 and directly supports the week’s theme of helping children understand and experience their rights in everyday environments like sport.
Key points:
- The campaign delivers practical resources for athletes, sporting clubs, coaches and parents to help foster inclusive, respectful environments – focussing on what bodies can do, rather than how they look.
- Developed with funding from the National Office for Child Safety, it educates the sporting community on the importance of inclusive and supportive language, and the impact words can have, even when they’re intended to be helpful.
- Recent research by SIA shows that 1-in-5 athletes have witnessed body shaming in sport and it was the most common negative behaviour reported in the study of over 800 participants.
- A 2024 Butterfly Survey revealed that 34.5% of young people said their body image stopped them from engaging in sport or physical activity; this highlights a need to address body shaming to keep children in sport for longer.
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SIA Director of Safeguarding, Lisa Purves, said the resources help adults understand how to support young athletes in a safer, more inclusive way.
“Body shaming has no place in sport and goes against the very integrity of what sport can give young people,” she said.
“We want to equip coaches, parents, clubs and peers with tools to promote body confidence and challenge harmful behaviours. Even well-intentioned comments about appearance can be harmful.”
SIA partnered with body image experts The Embrace Collective to develop the campaign toolkit of digital resources tailored for grassroots sport.
Dr Zali Yager, Executive Director and co-founder of The Embrace Collective, notes the impact body image issues are having on young people in Australia.
“Casual comments about athletes’ bodies, whether by coaches, parents, peers or the media, are not harmless,” she said.
Young people internalise these voices, and it can lead to disordered eating, mental health concerns, and dropping out of sport.
“We need to address this body commentary and body shaming in our sporting clubs and culture so our young people can enjoy sport for longer. This is why the launch of Sport is for Every BODY is so important.
“Australia is leading the way in this space – these resources are some of the first in the world to directly address body shaming at the grassroots level.”
2023 Australian of the Year and Co-Executive Director of The Embrace Collective, Taryn Brumfitt is a global body image advocate.
“Sport is where many young people learn resilience, teamwork and joy. None of that should be overshadowed by commentary on their bodies,” she said.
Body image is a universal problem; we’ve been taught to see our bodies as the problem, and we must flip that script in sport and everywhere.
“When sport becomes a place where bodies are judged, we lose not only participation but confidence and potential.
“If we want more kids in sport — and more medals — we must stop talking about their bodies.”
Quotes attributable to the three Sport is for Every BODY campaign champions
Olympians Melissa Wu and Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, both members of the SIA Athlete Advisory Group, are championing the campaign with their own expertise and experiences.
"I'm proud to support SIA's Sport is for Every BODY campaign because I believe we can shift the conversation in sport towards celebrating what our bodies can do, rather than how they look,” Australian diver Melissa Wu said.
"Throughout my diving career, I was always aware of how my body looked, especially competing in a swimsuit in a judged sport where performance and appearance feel synonymous.
For me, my best and most enjoyable performances came when I focused on being strong, powerful, and resilient.
Australian rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva agreed, encouraging athletes and those around them to shift the focus away from appearance.
“As a gymnast, you are often judged the second you step onto the floor, based on your appearance – from perfect makeup and how you look in a leotard – but I’ve learned to value strength, artistry and most importantly, overall health,” she said.
Young athletes should be encouraged to treat their body with kindness, train it with purpose, and enjoy a safe and healthy journey through the sport. That is why I am proud to be part of this campaign.
Veteran swimmer, Olympic physiotherapist, seasoned coach, parent, and now campaign champion, Cam Boland, brings a broad range of experience from the Australian sporting community to the campaign.
"In my experience, I see the need for these resources across the sporting spectrum,” he said.
“As a coach and physio, I’ll be thinking about how I can phrase things better and integrate these resources into the sports I'm involved with. As a parent, the exercises are a great way to start conversations and reframe situations.”
The Sport is for Every BODY campaign forms part of SIA’s broader commitment to tackling critical child safeguarding issues such as abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation through its Safeguarding, Culture and Safety, and Women and Girls in Sport programs.
- Explore the digital toolkit and campaign resources at: sportintegrity.gov.au/SportIsForEveryBODY