Page 15 - Touchline No.35

14 15

Women in sport THE JOURNAL OF SPORT, LEISURE & RISK WITH AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE November 2021

later lurches forward in the liberation winning the 100m and 200m double an avalanche of online racial and sexist and athletics brought a new vigour to their
movement. There was of course a re- again and the 7-time gold medallist Katie comments and criticism. sports and a growing appreciative, excited
orientation, but these incremental gains Ledecky showing the world she is one TV audience.
added to the momentum. of the greatest swimmers of all time. Those old ideas of poor female physical
On Facebook, the top five most talked and mental strength will still take some The social dynamism of achieving sporting
In our era, it is the corona crisis that has about athletes during the Games were all breaking down, yet major forward-thinking equality for women is now a force to
perhaps contributed the most significant women. They were getting noticed in all initiatives are now taking place by national be reckoned with and the movement is
jolt to business-as-usual. A body blow the right places. and international organisations to place powerful and imaginative. Opportunistic
to the bloated men’s leagues, it was women’s sport on a more even standing. pathways in female sports are now being
suspected that the nascent women’s Sport in 2021, reflecting so much of In tennis, Grand Slam winners all receive created and well-funded, with rewards
games would be submerged by the crisis, lifestyle and social movements, also the same prize money, male or female, evenly available to all, making all those
yet we have seen women’s sport thrive became all about the kids. In particular, and the innovative blending of sport into marginal gains made over the past century
during the pandemic as media attention it was a bunch of cool teens in the Tokyo mixed gender competition was a defining head towards a healthy, positive fruition.
and visibility increases. In the UK, there skateboarding bowls who literally jumped trend from the Tokyo Games. New mixed Our imaginations have already been
has been a 21% increase in adults following and flipped the idea of gender barriers team events in judo, triathlon, swimming captured and now there’s no turning back.
women’s sport in the past 18 months, upside and back. A bunch of teenage
primarily sparked by significant TV deals girls winning hearts and minds as well
with Sky and BBC to show regular live as medals, were key to finding a new
football from the Women’s Super League audience for the Olympic movement,
and the new cricket format, The Hundred, especially through two 13 year olds:
where women’s matches took equal billing Japan’s gold medallist Momiji Nishiya and
with the male counterparts at peak time silver medallist Rassya Leal from Brazil
across Summer 2021. It’s clear if women who before the Games already had six
are seen achieving sporting excellence, million followers on Instagram and 1.8
more will start their own journeys and million on TikTok. Who knows where this
more will be following them, embracing attention will take participation and, by
their success. creating a message to all those girls stuck
in front of screens, that they don’t have
The summer of sport in 2021 was to be tall, muscular or lean to fast forward
dominated by the delayed Tokyo 2020 themselves towards the mega money of a
Olympics. Media attention during the professional sporting career, sponsorship
Games switches often to sports that and endorsements.
usually thrive only within niche and
specialist groups, and athletes, usually Yet despite Tokyo 2020 making huge
women, who barely get a mention in strides, including having 49% of all
between Games. This year has been athletes being women, more than ever
recognised by many sporting analysts before, still only 10% of the coaches
and journalists as the year when women were women and much distance is still
athletes rose up even further, showing left to run against the eternal problems
some of the greatest performances of discrimination, abuse and inequality
of all time, creating a new breed and in pay. Significantly, the controversy
breathing new life into the idea of what over Simone Biles, the most decorated
makes a great female Olympian. We all gymnast of all time, and her Olympic
know how good they are, and those best withdrawal due to mental stress and
of the best proved it, including Elaine the burden of dealing with sexual abuse
Thomson-Herah, the fastest woman alive within her sport, inevitably brought

Back to contents