Eilish McColgan said on Thursday that she has been the target of body shaming on social media and called for accounts to be passport linked as she prepared for her first marathon.
McColgan said her target in Sunday’s London Marathon is to beat the personal best of her mother Liz, who won the race in 1996 and was runner up in 1997.
In March, when her mother reposted a video of McColgan training it drew, she said, “demeaning and abusive” responses, including comments describing her as anorexic.
“I’ve become pretty numb to it. Those comments I’ve had for years, they’re nothing new,” said McColgan.
She said many of those posting abuse hid behind opaque identities, although she added that some had¨”their name and face on there and they’re fully brazen”.¨
She said one was a teacher with a daughter and one was a man with three daughters and she wrote to them to express her dismay.
“The only reason I call it out from time to time is that I know that I have a lot of young kids who do follow me and I don’t want them to read it and think the reason I’m that fast is because I’m starving myself to do it,¨she said.
“I want people to see that what’s being said is not my reality, it’s actually the complete opposite of that.”
London Marathon has not posted on its official X account since January, saying it is no longer a “positive place to be”.
McColgan said the solution was to make social media accounts verified and passport linked but said she will nevertheless maintain a social media presence with clear goals.
“It’s trying to get across to the next generation that to get the most out of your career the utmost priority is looking after your body. It doesn’t matter what people online think.”
“I’ve had a couple of people message to say they get bullied at school because of the way they look so it’s helped them because if I’m in my 30s and still getting bullied for the way I look, it gives them a little more confidence to fight their corner.”
McColgan, the reigning Commonwealth 10,000m champion representing Scotland, said she is targeting the marathon at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
She is making her 26.2-mile debut on Sunday and wants to match her mother’s time of 2 hours 26 minutes 52 seconds in 1997.
“I’m absolutely bricking it. I’ve never been this scared! It’s completely unknown,” she said.
“I’ve done 21 miles in training, never got anywhere near 26. There’s that thought process of what happens after 20 miles because I don’t know.”
