I love swimming, but I’m sick of the sexist behaviour in British pools | Ellie Mae O’Hagan
The vast majority of male swimmers are no trouble, but there are still too many incidents involving men to ignore
A friend told me recently that of all animals, I most resemble a Shetland pony. In other words, my physique doesn’t exactly scream “athlete”. And so, when I go swimming, it comes as something of a surprise to others that I am actually quite good at it.
The more I swim, the more I notice that a not-insignificant number of men seem to take against my swimming abilities, and respond with an array of irritating behaviours. They push in front of me, they take up the whole lane, or – my personal favourite – they expend all of their energy on overtaking me, just to prove that they can, and then spend the rest of the lap swimming desperately slowly in front of me.