Finnish high jumper Ella Junnila had just failed to qualify for the final at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon when the messages started arriving in volume.

She had shared a personal Instagram post, writing that she would keep competing for as long as the fire inside her kept burning for high jump. In the five days that followed, the abuse flooded in.

"I got more hate messages of all kinds than I've ever gotten before or ever since," Junnila told Yle News.

One commenter twisted her own words against her, telling her to "put the flame out" — by killing herself. Another named her alongside former Finnish president Tarja Halonen as "two of the worst things to come out of Finland."

Junnila is not alone.

Sprinter Emma Tainio and shot putter Emilia Kangas have also described to Yle News how they have been on the receiving end of sustained online harassment. Much of it centred not on their athletic performance, but on their bodies, their visibility, and their gender.

Social media as a necessity

For professional athletes today, maintaining an online presence has become a practical professional requirement. Sponsorships, brand collaborations, and public profile-building increasingly depend on a strong social media presence.

"Your social media is basically your business card — your face to the world," said Tainio.

Junnila meanwhile says she uses her platform to offer followers a “window” into elite sport, while Kangas believes online visibility was essential to her recent fundraising efforts.

However, visibility does not always equal opportunity. Greater exposure online can also mean greater exposure to harassment.

A documented pattern

A 2025 report on equality in sports and physical activity in Finland, drawing on research by the Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports, found that women reported sexual and gender-based harassment at substantially higher rates than men — 23 percent compared to 3 percent.

For Kangas, the harassment has often been directed at her appearance.

"People assume athletes should look a certain way. When someone doesn’t fit that image, people feel entitled to comment on it," she said.

"The comments hurt, even if the intention wasn’t necessarily to hurt you."

She added that the abuse has at times been explicitly physical.

"I’ve received a lot of unpleasant comments directly about my own body. For example, asking how someone can reach the top when their stomach or other parts jiggle so much. They’ve directly referred to my body weight," Kangas added.

Tainio, meanwhile, has faced criticism for the way she presents herself on social media, including accusations of unprofessionalism and attention-seeking, as well as claims that she has set feminism backwards.

"It's slut-shaming. I've been called a whore — in so many ways and in so many words," she said.

"This is a war tactic"

Niina Meriläinen, a professor and researcher with extensive experience studying information warfare, cognitive warfare, and online influence, said the sexualisation of women online is a deliberate mechanism — not a by-product.

"When there's sexualisation in the comments that women get, you always become defensive. The sexualisation is so personal that you always have to start defending yourself or make sure that you are safe. And men, or whoever is attacking you, know that," she said.

Meriläinen believes female athletes are targeted because they are visible, successful, and transgressive in the eyes of a certain segment of society. Historically, she argues, public achievement and status were seen as a male domain — and for some, women stepping into that space feels like a direct threat.

This, she explained, feeds a zero-sum mindset — the idea that if women or minorities succeed, something must be taken away from men. It can turn visibility itself into a provocation.

"When you are frustrated in your own life… you see female athletes, they have money, they have success, they have visibility… 'Why the hell don't I have those?'"

She further noted that the sexualisation of female athletes often extends to how their bodies are scrutinised in ways male athletes rarely experience — too skinny, too bulky, too heavy, never quite right.

"We don't talk about, or not to the same extent, about how male athletes' bodies are looking. Let's take, for example, ice hockey, the grand old Finnish national sport. How often do we speak about the naked bodies of ice hockey players?" she said.

Performance versus harassment

High jumper Ella Junnila distinguished between criticism tied to athletic performance and abuse that was sexual in nature.

"Hate comments based on athletics I can, to some degree, not understand but see where they come from. It's based on your performance as an athlete or your preparation as an athlete, but when it goes to sexual harassment, it is something that I cannot understand," she said.

"I don't understand what would motivate someone to send death threats to athletes."

A question of equality

Progress in gender equality in sport is often measured through participation rates or funding. These athletes suggest a different metric deserves attention: what happens once women become visible?

Despite the abuse she has received, Tainio said she intends to maintain her presence online.

"Sport is about enjoyment, it's about having fun, it's about growing as a person. Social media has brought me so many opportunities — more than it will ever take away."

Kangas added a reminder about the pitfalls of social media comparison.

"Don't compare yourself too much to others. I've done it quite a bit, and I wish I hadn't wasted so much energy on it."

Junnila offered a final note of advice to others navigating the same pressures.

"Try to create a space that you feel safe in. If that means not sharing anything on social media, then that's the correct answer. Nothing that social media brings is worth crumbling your mental health or crushing your self-esteem."