Glasgow 2026 and EBU underscore need for respectful women’s athletics coverage

The recommendations, relevant to sports fans, clubs, teams, athletes and coaches, have been published amid the ongoing Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. The guidance follows growing concerns about the way footage from competitions can be captured, edited and redistributed online. British athletes including Amy Hunt and Keely Hodgkinson have previously highlighted the issue on social media, while Olympic pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw was among those involved in developing the EBU recommendations.

"It is encouraging to see the EBU guidance, which has been implemented through discussion with female athletes," said Katy Bourne, brand and creative rights expert at Pinsent Masons.

The recommendations advise broadcasters to avoid prolonged close-ups of specific body parts, low-angle shots and slow-motion replays that may draw attention away from sporting performance and contribute to inappropriate online use of footage.

According to the EBU, the goal is not to restrict storytelling or production quality, but to ensure coverage remains focused on athletic achievement, technical excellence and sporting performance. The guidance forms part of a wider effort to challenge harmful stereotypes and improve standards across sports broadcasting.

The move comes against the backdrop of a wider problem facing women in sport. World Athletics previously found that sexualised and sexist abuse overwhelmingly targeted female athletes during the 2022 World Athletics Championships, accounting for more than 40% of all detected abusive content identified in its online abuse study.

Bourne said: “Pinsent Masons has worked with sports organisations to tackle sexualised material online. In our experience this is predominantly targeted at female athletes. Copyright material and event footage is often gathered by bad actors and manipulated, whether zoomed in on, cropped or slowed down, before being published online."

The EBU recommendations currently apply to athletics broadcasting. However, issues have been identified across a range of sports, prompting governing bodies and major event organisers to strengthen their approach to online safety.

Online abuse is affecting all sports, recently the World Cup. After the previous men's tournament FIFA expressed that it expected to see all authorities and social media platforms accepting their responsibilities and supporting it in the fight against all forms of discrimination. That led to heightened UK compliance duties for online platforms.

Bourne said: "EBU guidance is only the first step. Sports organisations, sportspeople and teams will need the support of technology-led solutions to monitor and tackle abusive content shared online, quickly."

Technology is expected to play a growing role. Large-scale monitoring of online content is virtually impossible using manual processes alone, particularly given the volume of posts, videos and comments generated around major sporting events. AI-driven brand protection and reputation management tools can help identify infringing content, monitor online discourse and support rapid takedown requests where material breaches platform rules or legal rights.

Pinsent Masons has developed a brand protection platform, Alteria. The technology enables organisations to monitor social media and online platforms for harmful content, helping sports bodies and athletes identify abuse quickly and take action where appropriate. Combined with legal support, such tools can assist with escalation strategies and enforcement action against persistent offenders.