Teenage figure skaters as young as 13 are being increasingly targeted by abusive comments on social media, Olympic gold medalist Evan Bates has warned.
In a sport which has seen revived popularity since the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Bates said some users were creating “toxic environments” around livestreamed events like Junior Grand Prix figure skating. That's a key event for competitors aged 13 and older with dreams of becoming Olympians in the future.
“We’ve seen a huge uptick in viewership and our online streams, but with that comes more chatter and unfortunately more of that negativity,” said Bates, who chairs the International Skating Union's athletes committee.
“We’re talking about minors and kids who don’t deserve that kind of abuse. A skater’s pursuit of their dream to skate at ISU level shouldn’t come at the expense of their mental health or well-being.”
Bates was speaking ahead of the International Skating Union signing up Friday to a campaign against online abuse. The ISU, which runs figure skating and speedskating, has also pledged to extend a program giving competitors access to AI-powered software which can hide abusive comments on their social media accounts from view.
Bates and his ice dance partner Madison Chock are two of the most experienced and decorated athletes in the sport. The 37-year-old American said he wanted to see other high-profile skaters be more vocal when they see online abuse.
“More and more I’d love to see these athletes, these older athletes who’ve been through it, step forward and call out people who are creating these kind of toxic environments for skaters,” he said.
In an unusual meeting of skating and auto racing, the ISU has signed up to the United Against Online Abuse campaign. That was originally set up by auto racing body the FIA, whose own sport has increasingly seen on-track rivalries mirrored by social-media hostility.
Bates said he's trying to recruit skaters to use a tool he likened to a “shield” which blocks abusive or negative posts from view on their social media despite a “natural hesitance” to allow a third-party tool access to their accounts.
He said the tool has flagged up 300,000 “negative comments,” half of them during the Olympics, on the accounts of 92 skaters using the system.
“I think to a certain extent it is internet culture. I don’t think it’s new. Harassment and abuse of athletes isn’t new,” Bates said. “As a soccer fan or a football fan, NBA fan, it’s sometimes crazy to hear the things that even people in the stadium shout at the players on the field. I think now there’s just a means to reaching athletes through social media that’s more direct.”
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