Olympic swimmer responds to ‘vulgar’ comments on Instagram photo

An Olympic swimmer has criticised the ‘vulgar’ and ‘sexist’ comments she received on a photograph that shows her posing upside down.

Linda Cerruti, 28, won a total of eight medals at the European Aquatics Championships. She decided to show off her six silver and two bronze medals in an Instagram picture last Monday that a section of the internet criticised as risqué. The picture shows the swimmer doing the splits while posing upside down. Her medals are draped around her legs.

The photograph has polarised opinion on social media, but Cerruti is not taking the backlash lying down. She responded to the negative comments in a powerful follow-up post on Instagram.
“Two days ago I shared a photo taken at the beach where I always go, where I developed my first dreams, a place that has great symbolic value for me,” she wrote, according to a translation provided by the Independent.

“The photo shows me in an artistic pose, typical of my sport, upside down and doing the splits along with the eight medals I won during the best European Championship of my career.

“I am literally shocked and disgusted by the hundreds, probably thousands, of inappropriate, sexist comments and vulgar people responsible for them,” she wrote, adding that it was heartbreaking to see people sexualise her body instead of focussing on her professional achievements.