OLYMPICS

Human Rights Watch report documents abuse of child athletes in Japan

Human Rights Watch has demanded the Japan Sports Council and Japan Olympic Committee use next year's Tokyo Olympics as a catalyst to tackle the issue of abuse toward child athletes in Japan. | AFP-JIJI

By Jack Tarrant
Reuters

Jul 20, 2020

A Human Rights Watch report has found child athletes in Japan often suffer physical and verbal abuse and sometimes sexual abuse during training after documenting the experiences of over 800 athletes in 50 sports.

The 67-page report released on Monday, titled "I Was Hit So Many Times I Can't Count," looks at Japan's history of physical punishment in sport and includes first-hand accounts from athletes.

The report comes in the week that would have marked the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had it not been for the global coronavirus pandemic. The games have now been delayed a year.

Human Rights Watch report documents abuse of child athletes in Japan

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