{"id":421394,"date":"2020-03-08T00:41:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T07:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=421394"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:58:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:58:58","slug":"iwd-nancy-hogshead-makar-rape-survivor-fighter-for-an-end-to-abuse-in-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/iwd-nancy-hogshead-makar-rape-survivor-fighter-for-an-end-to-abuse-in-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"IWD: Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Rape Survivor & Fighter For An End To Abuse in Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Women’s Day (IWD)<\/strong><\/p>\n

To mark International Women’s Day, Swimming World will roll out a series of features this Sunday to highlight the achievements and work of \u00a0pathfinders in swimming and raising issues that continue to have a massive impact on women in sport. <\/i><\/p>\n

Here we take a look at the ongoing work of Nancy Hogshead-Makar<\/strong> with victims of abuse in sport. We recall the recognition the 1984 Olympic 100m freestyle champion has received for her campaigning and advocacy of late beyond hearing what she had to say when AFP caught up with her to celebrate IWD.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three years after the trauma of being raped by a stranger while jogging outside a university campus, American swimmer Nancy Hogshead lit up the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles by winning three gold medals and a silver.<\/p>\n

Today, the 57-year-old lawyer, mother and activist devotes her life towards the fight for gender equality and the battle against sexual abuse in sport.<\/p>\n

In an interview with AFP ahead of International Women’s Day, Nancy Hogshead-Makar<\/strong> says she remains “unrealistically optimistic” about her work and life in general. She said:<\/p>\n

“I guess you have to be in order to try to win in the Olympics and try to address sexual abuse in sports. They’re pretty audacious goals.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The day before the interview, Hogshead-Makar had been working until the early hours drafting a letter to the US Congress about bipartisan legislation that calls for tougher protections for amateur athletes against abuse by coaches and employees.<\/p>\n

Hogshead-Makar’s work ethic mirrors the dedication that formed the cornerstone of her swimming career — from the age of 11, she would spend four hours a day churning the waters of her training pool.<\/p>\n

“My winning formula was to compete,” Hogshead-Makar said. “That’s how I was successful in life.”<\/p>\n

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After retiring from swimming, the Iowa native channelled her energy into helping others. After becoming a lawyer, she focused on campaigning for gender equality and combating sexual abuse in sport.<\/p>\n

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Nancy Hogshead at Duke in her student and swimmer days – Photo Courtesy: Champion Women<\/p><\/div>\n

For decades, Hogshead-Makar did not talk publicly about the traumatic events that occurred in the autumn of 1981 when she was 19.<\/p>\n

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Who was to blame? “… while running alone…” reads the headline of a rape report – Chronicle screenshot from the Champion Women video<\/p><\/div>\n

While out jogging outside the campus of Duke University in North Carolina, she was raped by a stranger.<\/p>\n

“I felt profoundly broken. I felt forsaken by God. I was scared all the time,” said Hogshead-Makar, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for months after the attack.<\/p>\n

“I thought that I could overcome it by willing it away.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hogshead-Makar said she benefited from two things that many sexual assault victims don’t receive. She said:<\/p>\n

“Number one, everybody around me believed that it happened. Number two, people believed in the depth of my emotional harm. Nobody told me, ‘Just get over it’.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With help and support from loved ones, coaches, Duke faculty and administrators, she rebuilt her life but kept the attack private.<\/p>\n

Former Olympic swimmer Nancy Hogshead-Makar has dedicated her life to gender equality while fighting sexual abuse in sport. She says:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“I didn’t talk about it for 20 years because I would have started to cry; I wasn’t quite healed enough.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eventually, a friend and mentor, the human rights activist Richard Lapchick<\/strong>, suggested that talking publicly about her experience as a rape survivor could be a way to help others. Hogshead-Makar recalls:<\/p>\n

“He said, ‘You really need to start talking about your own experience’. And he was right. It made me a better advocate.\u00a0My hope is that other, older women with great lives will disclose this part of their story.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n