Sharron Davies claims her children’s school has been targeted by trans activists after she shared her views on who can compete in women’s sport

The former Olympic swimmer says she has been called “every name under the sun” after speaking out against male-born athletes competing in female categories.

“Just activists ringing every single job I have, ringing every single charity, ringing my children’s schools, abusing my kids, calling me every name under the sun,” Davies told the Off Air podcast.

“They use these terms not to actually mean it, they use it to bully. They use it to shut you up and to stop you trying to debate and present the science.”

Davies said the abuse she has received was misogynistic and claimed a lot of male athletes have not backed her in her fight against trans women competing in sport.

“Every single one of those is an Olympic medallist or a world champion and every single one of those is a household name. More than half of them were men.

“Only five of that 60 have ever put their head above the parapet.”

The swimmer added that decathlete Daley Thompson – who is one of the few to have spoken out over the issue – has not faced the same abuse.

Davies said the abuse she has received was misogynistic and claimed a lot of male athletes have not backed her in her fight against trans women competing in sport

She said: “Daley gets a hundredth of the abuse I get, and he has exactly the same views and says exactly the same things.

“It feels like it is totally and utterly a men’s rights movement. Historically women, get hit over the head with this “be kind” slogan.

“Yet if you turn around to men and you said, “Well, let’s be kind to Lance Armstrong. He was only cheating a little bit – it’s not going to matter. He’s only got a 1 per cent advantage on us – let him carry on”, they would just laugh in your face.”