Australian Olympic middle-distance runner Olli Hoare has sadly had to abandon his Instagram account after receiving hateful messages from fans who were disappointed with his performance in Paris.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist was one of three Aussie men entered in the 1500m event but, like teammates Stewart McSweyn and Adam Spencer, failed to progress through to the semi-finals.
Hoare came 13th in his heat with a time of 3:39.11, meaning if he were to make it into the semis he would need to do so through the newly added repechage round.
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And while he shaved more than five seconds off his heat time by clocking 3:34.00, a fifth place in the repechage wasn’t enough to go through.
He was just 0.04 seconds short of the third-placed finish needed to progress.
And in a sad postscript to his Olympic campaign, the 27-year-old revealed he had been abused and ridiculed online for his efforts.
“After not qualifying in the first round at the Paris Olympics I started to receive hurtful messages about my performance on Instagram,” Hoare said on Sunday night (AEST).
“I made the mistake of not deleting my social media and looking at those messages.
“I tried to brush it off and run my best race in the repechage. Unfortunately I didn’t get the result I wanted but tried my best to perform.
“After that I believed from my effort that I wouldn’t receive any more of those messages. Unfortunately I did.”
In the wake of the hateful messages, Hoare made the decision to remove his public profile on Instagram.
“I’ve decided to step away from my Instagram until the end of the season and set up a private one that I can use instead,” he went on.
“I believe this is the best thing for me at this time as I hoped that those messages wouldn’t affect me but unfortunately they have.
“The sport is cruel and I’ve faced a tough time getting back from injury but I am so lucky for the support structure I have.
“I was able to get back out there and compete for my country at the highest level after not being able to train properly six months ago.
“Thank you for your understanding and support.”
Hoare had to pull out of the 2023 world championships and the remainder of last year’s season with small sports hernia.
“I just don’t feel like I was prepared these Olympics,” Hoare said when the dust had settled in Paris.
“I think looking at my racing and the mental side of it, I just don’t think I was prepared and that’s what you get when you’re not prepared.”
Elsewhere on the track, Aussie Reece Holder caused a boilover in the opening round of the men’s 400m, leading world No.1 Quincy Hall of the US into the final straight and holding on for third spot to advance to the semis on his Olympic debut.
Holder’s personal best time of 44.53 seconds moved him up up three places to second on the Australian all-time list behind Darren Clark.
“Without being too cocky, my training splits have been a little bit faster than that so I was expecting to be out there,” said the 21-year-old, who tore his hamstring at the national championships in April.
“But I didn’t think I’d do that in the heats, that’s for sure.”
Abbey Caldwell and Claudia Hollingsworth were eliminated in the women’s 800m semi-finals.