The Japanese Olympic Committee has identified 1,919 online posts defaming Japanese athletes who took part in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.

At a time when derogatory online posts against athletes are becoming an increasingly serious problem, the JOC monitored social media comments linked to the Milan-Cortina Olympics between Jan. 18, more than two weeks before the start of the Games, and Saturday, the day before the end of the event.

It confirmed that a total of about 240,000 posts were related to the Winter Games. The monitoring operations were conducted around the clock by a special JOC team organized to protect athletes.

Among the athletes targeted by online harassment was female freestyle skier Kokone Kondo, who suffered injuries during practicing before the Olympics and was unable to participate in the Games.

Of the 1,919 questionable posts, 371 were removed after the JOC asked relevant social media operators to delete them.

The special team recognized the abusive posts based on the rules of each social media platform, with comments about news articles selected for the Yahoo News website accounting for a large share of the problematic cases. Many of the comments targeted highly capable athletes with extensive media exposure. Articles with headlines that could fuel aggressive sentiments also attracted libelous comments.

Some malicious posts were voluntarily deleted by social media operators before the start of the JOC monitoring, thanks to their stepped-up surveillance operations.

Meanwhile, most social media posts were supportive of athletes, partly because Japan won many medals, according to the JOC.

Still, the committee can do little to address insulting posts sent directly to the social media accounts of athletes. It is difficult to take legal action against such posts unless they include death threats or other extreme comments, according to senior JOC official Katsushi Obata.

The JOC will conduct similar monitoring for defamatory social media posts during the Asian Games set to be held in Aichi Prefecture between September and October this year.

¡°We should build a sufficient system to provide mental care¡± to athletes who were the target of derogatory comments, said Obata, who will oversee monitoring activities for the Asian Games.