Go For Gold: Team USA Women Aim For Equity Wins At Tokyo Olympics
Team USA women’s gymnastics team headed for the Olympics. (Photo @usagym on Twitter.)
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics kicking off this month are notable not just for what is missing—the crowds in the stands, many athletes who tested positive for COVID and Sha’Carri Richardson due to a positive marijuana test—but what gains have been achieved for competitors identifying as female.
“The 2020 #TokyoOlympics kicking off this month are notable for the gains that have been achieved for competitors identifying as female. #equity #inclusion”
“U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee unveiled the official U.S. roster for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics of a total of 613 athletes – 329 women and 284 men – are set to represent the U.S. in Tokyo, the record for most women to represent a nation at a single Games and the third straight Games in which women outnumber men on the U.S. Olympic team,” according to Yahoo Sports.
Four-time Olympic champion basketball player Sue Bird is a Team USA flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony, just the seventh woman to do so in 26 Olympics ceremonies since 1908.
For the first time in history, women represent almost half of the 11,000 athletes. Additionally, breastfeeding mothers will be able to bring along their children (in spite of a COVID ban on family member attendance), transgender athletes are participating, the age range of athletes is wide and more fans say they are tuning in for the women’s events than for the men’s.
“For the first time in history, women will represent almost half of the 11,000 olympic athletes at this year’s #TokyoOlympics. #womenathletes ”
A new Adweek-Morning Consult poll of 2,200 U.S.-based viewers shows that “a majority of respondents (59%) said they were interested in watching women’s gymnastics, half said they’re interested in women’s aquatics and 47% said they were interested in women’s track and field events. By contrast, 46% are interested in men’s gymnastics, 48% are interested in men’s aquatics and 45% are interested in men’s track and field events,” ADWEEK reports.
Here are eight more arenas featuring champions with milestones for equity and inclusion we are celebrating and applauding as the Olympic Games unfold.
Take her down. Freestyle wrestling has been male-dominated since the dawn of the competitive games in Ancient Greece in 700 B.C. Now the U.S. can cheer for Adeline Gray, who “may be the greatest women's freestyle wrestler of all time. The Denver native bounced back with two more world titles in 2018 and 2019. She's taken the one-year delay in stride and is in good form this year, coming off a gold at the Pan American Championships in late May, “ABC News reports
She’s the GOAT. Simone Biles, 24, is the most decorated and successful gymnast—male or female—in history. Watching what she is capable of achieving will be inspirational to everyone around the world. Though teammate Kara Eaker tested positive for COVID, Biles will be representing alongside Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, Sunisa Lee, MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey.
“@Simone_Biles, 24, is the most decorated and successful gymnast—male or female—in history. Watching what she is capable of achieving will be inspirational to everyone around the world. #TokyoOlympics #inspirationalwomen”
Moms rule. “At least a dozen moms will compete for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, among them some of the most accomplished and famous female athletes of their era: Allyson Felix, Alex Morgan and Diana Taurasi, to name a few. Countless other Olympian moms will compete in Tokyo for other nations,” Washington Post reports. “Felix, 35, a six-time Olympic gold medalist, leaves her two-year-old daughter Camryn to cheer at the television, while she competes in track and field. Additionally, Laura Wilkinson was the first woman to have won three major diving world titles, including the Olympic gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games. She was 22 then. Now she's 43, a mother of four, and 13 years post-retirement,” reports NBC Sports.
Sisters kicking it. While the team was not off to a great start, hope is high for the remaining games. “If the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has one last goal to accomplish, it’s this: becoming the first women’s team to ever win a World Cup and an Olympics, back to back. Alex Morgan, the fifth leading goal scorer in the team’s history, will be key to preventing another letdown: past U.S. World Cup victories, in 1999 and 2015, were followed by Olympic disappointment.” Might be also fun to watch sisters Samantha Mewis of the North Carolina Courage and Kristie Mewis of the Houston Dash who “have made history as the first siblings to be named to the Olympic roster of the US Women's National Team,” Pop Sugar reports. Of course three times may be the charm for Megan Rapinoe, 36, who has hosted the ESPY awards and was named the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year.
Read more in Take The Lead on pay gaps in women’s soccer
Speak up and stand up. Hammer thrower Gwen Berry turned away from the flag while on the podium at the Olympic trials “and draped a T-shirt with words ‘activist athlete’ over her head.” Lots of pushback and criticism for Berry, who is familiar with that as in “2019 she lost some of her sponsorships after raising her fist in protest on the podium of the Pan American games and received a 12-month probation from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. She has said it was meant to highlight social injustice in America,“ according to reports.
Wait for this court appearance. In women’s basketball, Sue Bird, 40, and Diana Taurasi, 39, “will be leading the way with their fifth Olympic appearance, and each have four Olympic gold medals. If they win this year, they will be the first basketball players in history to win five Olympic gold medals.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women’s soccer equity
Surfing USA. Surfer Carissa Moore of Hawaii is looking for her first gold medal and she is a four-time World Surf League champion. “Though there’s much excitement and renewed enthusiasm for the women’s game, years of objectification, pay disparities and an opportunity gap have taken their toll. Industry leaders from the professional World Surf League and the developmental USA Surfing say they’re committed to righting the wrongs that have long held female surfers back in the male-dominated sport. The mental, financial and logistical roadblocks for women in surfing date back centuries,” reports Buffalo News.
“Surfer @Rissmoore10 of Hawaii is looking for her first gold medal and she is a four-time World Surf League champion. #femaleolympian #TokyoOlympics”
Firsts for many. In Beach Volleyball, April Ross would be a first-time Gold medal winner as she won a silver medal at the London Olympics, and in Rio won a bronze. BMX racing freestyle competition is a first this year with Hannah Roberts going for the gold as the first woman to land a 360 tailwhip in competition. “Women have long been fighting for a spot in major competitions for freestyle BMX, which features athletes flipping, spinning and tricking their way across a ramp-filled course. The X Games, the largest action sports competition for decades, relegated women's BMX to a non-medal, demonstration sport in 2019—the last time the games were held due to COVID—which brought protests and a holdout from athletes. On the global scene, however, world championships have been held in 2017, 2019 and 2021. All Roberts has done is win gold all three times, “ ABC News reports. Swimmer Katie Ledecky will be swimming the 1500M, new to women’s events, and three more freestyle events.
Of course, watching the Olympics, fans will be looking to see if the gender gap in announcers and commentators continues as it has traditionally.
“Of course, watching the #TokyoOlympics, fans will be looking to see if the #gendergap in announcers and commentators continues as it has traditionally. #womendonews”
In a new report from The Global Monitoring Project, “There has however been an overall slight improvement in the number of stories in traditional news media (newspapers, TV and radio) that are reported by women, up from 37% in 2015 to 40%.”
The report says 40% of news stories of celebrities, arts, media and sports are written by journalists identifying as female. The report adds, “There are some excellent women sports commentators but when it comes to the business of sport, men dominate.”
But of course, the world can watch Christine Brennan, veteran USA Today columnist and Olympics sportscaster, offer her expert take on all things Tokyo Olympics.
“The world can watch @Cbrennansports, veteran USA Today columnist and Olympics sportscaster, offer her expert take on all things #TokyoOlympics. #femalecommentator #gendergap #journalism”
She tells Judy Woodruff of PBS, “54 percent of the U.S. Olympic team is women, for the third straight time, more women than men on the U.S. Olympic team. This is all about Title IX. This is about the law signed by Richard Nixon in June of 1972, almost 50 years ago now, that opened the floodgates for women and girls to play sports.”
Brennan adds, “And so someone like Allyson Felix, the great star in her fifth now Olympic Games, track and field star for the U.S., as a mom, she has been leading the way in this conversation about pay from Nike— if you're pregnant, you should still get your money and your contract, and also grants for women athletes who are also mothers.”
