On winning the Asturias Squash Championship on May 11th Elisabet Sadó not only received a trophy but also a gift – a Durex Play vibrator.
Second, third and fourth prize winners Olaya Fernandez Lence, Marina Arraiza Mier and Cristina Barandica Fernandez, also received gifts that included an electric foot file for removing bunyons and a leg wax kit.
Male players in the competition, however, were only awarded their trophies, without gifts of sex aids or beauty treatments.
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The players immediately complained to the Royal Spanish Squash Federation complaining that the prizes “promoted sexism”.
A photo of the prizes was posted online by local radio show Ganamos Con Ellas (We Win With Women), which described them as “degrading, shocking, harmful, inconceivable but sadly true.”
The athletes complained that it was a sign of the discrimination against women in Sport.
"We were very surprised, very shocked,” Sadó said. “We think it's very sexist. We want to bring it everybody’s attention because we think [...] there's a lot of discrimination [against women in sport] and things have to change."
Almudena Cueto, the director of the Asturian Women's Institute, said the players and returned the trophies and gifts in outrage.
"They returned the gifts and decided to make a formal complaint so something like this would never happen. What's occurred is shameful. It's left us speechless," she said.
The squash club issued a formal apology "We understand the reaction and deeply regret this unacceptable incident," said official statement signed by president Nacho Manzano and acting president Barbara Fernandez.
"The club reiterates its apologies to players, the Federation and people or entities offended by the discomfort caused by inappropriate gifts and that should never have been delivered."
“We feel terribly ashamed by what's happened and we understand the gifts were not the appropriate ones but it was never our intention to offend anyone," Manzano told local Asturian newspaper El Comercio Digital.
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