About us
We are the UK's athlete-led, safe sport organisation.
Kyniska Advocacy is a lived-experience- and athlete-led organisation working with sports communities across the UK to influence change in safe sport practices, policies and education to better protect, respect and empower people in sport.
Our team understands sport today because we are sport today. We are founded by two women athletes, Kate Seary and Mhairi Maclennan, who, following their own adverse experiences around the way women are treated in sport, decided to do something about it.
We believe that all athletes should be able to safely practise sports and athlete wellbeing should be a key measure of success. Currently, the culture and structures within sport do not allow for this. Policy in sport is outdated, out of touch, and fails to serve the athletes it’s there to protect. This is why we advocate for progressive policies in women’s sport, enacting change one campaign at a time, to instil an equitable sporting culture from grassroots clubs to the Olympic Games
Our Vision
A sporting community which fosters a safe environment for all athletes and has the protection and welfare of women at its heart
Our Objectives
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Many sports operate on outdated and fragmented structures, led by a “win-at-all cost” culture. This creates an inconsistency in support, education and processes meaning the level of care athletes and participants receive depends on where they live and which sport they choose to play.
At the same time, those with lived experience are rarely included in leadership or decision-making, making it hard for sporting structures to truly reform.
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Despite our collective action, abuse may still occur, but no athlete should face it alone. Every survivor should have access to compassionate, trauma-informed support - emotional, practical, and legal.
That’s why we created the Kyniska Advocacy Support Service to provide athlete-led, confidential, support for anyone experiencing abuse in sport.
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Sport has historically addressed issues of abuse and harm reactively, often in response to crises. Our goal is to shift this paradigm through proactive prevention work. By delivering pioneering research, comprehensive education and engaging in community outreach and campaigns, we aim to achieve lasting, transformative change to the harmful cultures that perpetuate abuse and harm in sport.
Who was Kyniska?
“While Kings of Sparta are my fathers and brothers, since she won with a chariot of swift-footed horses, Kyniska dedicated this statue; And I alone I say of the women of all of Greece take this crown”
Kyniska, princess of Sparta, was the first woman to win an event at the Ancient Olympics.
She went on to win two Olympic crowns in the Four-Horse Chariot race in 396 and 392 BC.
This was no mean feat for a woman in Ancient Greece, as they were banned from the Olympic Sanctuary during the Olympic festival.
Kyniska was a trailblazer for women in sport.
As the first female winner, she paved the way for other women to follow in her footsteps, changing the narrative so that we can see women thriving in sport today.
We honour her and challenge ourselves to carry on her legacy, for women everywhere.
Kyniska, as imagined in Sophie de Renneville’s Biographie des femmes illustres de Rome, de la Grèce, et du Bas-Empire (1825)