Australian swimmer Soren Zwolsman wasn’t bullied into wearing women’s bathers, his mother says
- A photograph of Zwolsman ignited controversy in Australia after it was published in a report claiming he was forced to wear women’s bathers as punishment
- His mother has denied her teenage son was forced to wear women’s bathers, instead asking which ‘pervert’ had taken the picture of him changing into the attire
The mother of Soren Zwolsman, whose older brother Yannick will swim in Australia’s Olympic trials in Adelaide on Tuesday, said her son chose to wear the women’s swimsuit and was not bullied by anyone.
“Soren has gone to school wearing girls’ dresses. When he was little he walked around in dresses all the time. He doesn’t care. If there is something he likes he will wear it. They are probably his own bathers. Why would that be a problem?”
The Australian newspaper published a photo of Soren Zwolsman wearing the suit and quoted a “concerned parent” saying he had been made to wear it for failing to achieve a time at training.
The paper said the photo taken two years ago exposed the “degrading and abusive culture of swimming in Australia”.
Monika Zwolsman said the photo had been misrepresented and her son, then 13, was not a victim of bullying by his coach.
“What we need to be looking at here is who took pictures of my 13-year-old son changing in and out of swimmers,” she said. ‘Who was that pervert? And what other photos does he have of my son in that situation?”
Zwolsman said she was present when her son wore the bathers at Southport pool on the Gold Coast.
“We are tiger mums. As if we are going to sit there while someone tells our children something that we know is going to upset them?” she said. “We would just fly in there and attack.”
Governing body Swimming Australia said the photo had been taken without the “child’s permission”.
“Swimming Australia has spoken to the mother of the child concerned and she is deeply upset her child has been shamed for wearing his choice of swimsuit,” Swimming Australia said in a statement.
