One of the great things about the Olympics is that women’s athletics gets the spotlight for a couple of weeks every four years. And it seems as though every Olympiad, the IOC or the governing bodies of various sports get it together and agree that the world will not end if the IOC gives its blessing to women doing X for a medal (where X might be marathoning (not added until 1984 for women, while the men had been doing it for decades) or boxing (just added this year)). There are still sports, like ski jump, where women are kept out of competition at the Olympic level because of fears for their girly bits.
So it’s incredibly inspiring to learn that one of the most-watched and most-supported athletes in the current Games was a female boxer from Ireland named Katie Taylor.
LONDON – They came from Cork and Kerry. They flew in from Dublin and brought their daughter from across town. They came for a 5-foot-5, 132-pound woman whose hands deliver hammer swings, happiness, and hope.
They came because Katie Taylor – Ireland’s Katie Taylor – was boxing for the gold medal.
They came because this might be the most perfect Irish story ever, and the Irish love stories. The humble kid, mesmerized by her father shadow boxing in their kitchen along the Irish coast, winds up trained by dad in a sport few believed should even be allowed – a girl fight? She turns into the four-time world champion, humble, hard-working, and wrapped, literally, in religion: “The Lord is my Savior and my shield,” her robe reads.
“She’s an everybody,” said 17-year-old Aifric Norton, who flew here with her older brother Aonghus.
They came because, back home, the recession drags on and drags down. And when Katie Taylor hits someone in the mouth it feels, even for a brief moment, like Ireland, too, can hit back.
“Everybody forgets about the recession when she fights,” said Con McDonnell, who flew in with three buddies all wearing “Katie Taylor Made for Gold” T-shirts.
They came because they were the lucky ones who got tickets. “Half of Ireland is here,” marveled Barry McGuigan, the old Irish champion. Others just came over to hang around outside the ExCeL Center, stuffing the bars and restaurants in what was once a slum of East London. “There’s 1,500 paddies down the road in the pubs,” said Graham Regan, noting he knows because that’s where he watched Taylor’s semifinal victory on Wednesday.
They came because they know back in Taylor’s hometown of Bray, in County Wicklow, there were 10,000 people gathered outside to watch on a giant screen. They had to move the viewing to a bigger spot because 6,000 showed up for the semifinal and the town square couldn’t hold them all. Across the nation, everyone else just crowded into pubs and living rooms. Many bosses in the city centers of Dublin and Galway just let workers go early rather than pretend they wouldn’t sneak off anyway. “The country will stop today,” said fan Tony Barrett.
They came because coming had developed into a movement. Each Taylor fight during these Olympics saw the 10,000-seat venue filled with green shirts and homemade signs and Tricolour flags. For the finale, the venue manager estimated 8,000 Irish were in attendance, even with a Brit fighting for gold in a different weight class.
Oh, and the building filled with noise. Lots and lots of noise. Unbelievable amounts of noise. The fans, often these burly men, would sing soccer songs and chant “I-er-LAND, I-er-LAND” and “KAY-t, KAY-t.” Louder and louder. This was the wildest scene of the Games, electric and exciting. The International Olympic Committee measured the noise at every session of the Olympics, and nothing matched the decibels of the introduction for a Katie Taylor fight. The second-loudest event was the final seconds of a thrilling Great Britain cycling victory at the Velodrome. . . .
The most popular athlete in Ireland is female. Where else is that true? Where else could that be true? And it’s real, with men, grown men, old and young, coming because of what she can do in the field of competition. There was no stigma. This was boxing. Not women’s boxing. Twenty years ago to the day, Michael Carruth – also coached by his father – won gold in Barcelona, making him a forever legend. His gold wasn’t any bigger than Taylor’s.
Compare that to the reaction of many Saudis to the fact that two Saudi women participated at all:
Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani returns to Saudi Arabia as the first woman to represent the Kingdom in judo, but while her participation has been celebrated globally the domestic reaction to her accomplishment has ranged from lukewarm to openly hostile. Her father, a judo referee who said he wanted his daughter to make “new history for Saudi’s women,” is reportedly incensed at conservative Saudis who showered her with racial slurs on Twitter and called her a “prostitute” for participating.
The Kingdom bent to a combination of international pressure and the increasingly powerful Saudi vox populi by announcing—just a month before the Games began—that Shahrkhani and Sarah Attar, a California born-and-bred track runner at Pepperdine with dual citizenship, would compete at the Games. But while the decision was a baby step toward gender equality for the approximately 11 million women and girls who call Saudi Arabia home, the move trigged a powerful conservative backlash from clerics and others. . . .
Even as the pressure builds for Saudi Arabia to allow women to participate or risk becoming an outlier even in the Islamic world—Iran and Yemen have women’s soccer teams, for instance—the state has tried to hold the line. Its Olympic athletes have barely been brought up in the state-sanctioned press, and much of the Twitter conversation about them has been hostile. Steps of the Devil: Denial of Women and Girls’ Rights to Sport in Saudi Arabia, a devastating report by Human Rights Watch details the profoundly deviant yet tenaciously held religious objections of Saudi clerics to women engaging in sports. Allowing Saudi girls and women to compete would invite them to engage in immodest movement, aberrant clothing, and performances in front of unrelated males that would lead to immorality and desecration of the purity of the Saudi female, influential clerics insist. They argue that vigorous movement is a threat to the health and honour of the “virgin girl,” a profound deterrent in a shame-and-honor-centred culture that places extraordinary value on the intact hymen of an unmarried woman.
Dr. Mohammad al-Arifi, an influential cleric who preaches at Al-Bawardi Mosque in Riyadh, is on faculty at King Saud University, warned Prince Nawaf against sending Saudi women to the Olympics:
“Women practicing sports … is fundamentally allowed … but if this leads to mixing with men … or revealing private parts … or men watching her sometimes run, sometimes fall down … sometimes laugh and sometimes cry or quarrel with another female athlete … or mount a horse … or practice gymnastics … or wrestling … or other sports … while the cameras film and the [television] channels broadcast … then there can be no doubt that it is forbidden.”
Attar can go back to California, where she was born and raised, and avoid much of the backlash to her participation. But Shahrkhani has to go back to live under this repressive regime. At least her father, who is also her coach, is on her side and is willing to stand up for her, using the rules of the regime:
The father of judoka Shaherkani was so incensed that he contacted the country’s interior minister to demand action against those who had insulted his daughter. Under Saudi law, punishment for insulting a woman’s honor and integrity can be up to 100 lashes.
Something possibly worth pointing out though: a lot of people in Ireland think it’s taken the Olympics to get our media pay as much attention to Katie Taylor as a man with her track record would have received. And it’s not just feminists who think so. As recently as a month ago, a male cab driver (finger on the pulse, you know!) commented to me that if Taylor was a man she would be far more appreciated for her achievements. Article and discussion about it (from last year) here.
Things are even worse in Somalia than in Saudi. Zamzam Mohamed Farah has been threatened with death by her fellow Somalis should she return home so, not unreasonably, she’s claimed asylum in Great Britain. But given the size and orthodoxy of the Somali populations here, where will she be safe?
The Olympics has been fantastic for women’s sports across the board. I’ve cheered the rowers, cyclists, runners, throwers, swimmers, fighters and even bloody horse riders, and had tears in my eyes when Jessica Ennis brought it home. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to know this was true for just about everyone watching.
@Gerry: There was a rumor that she was seeking asylum but it has been denied.
You are certainly correct that the situation is bad, however.
“There are still sports, like ski jump, where women are kept out of competition at the Olympic level because of fears for their girly bits.”
Women ski jumpers will be competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/sports/07iht-SKI07.html
The most likely reason that women weren’t permitted to ski jump in the Olympics up until now is that the sport’s organizers feared that they might do as well as the men.
For example, going into the last Winter Olympics, the record distance for the hill at Whistler was held by a woman, Lindsey Van.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Van
That record was broken at the Olympics, in which Van was not permitted to compete.
Women can compete with men in ski jumping because there’s nothing about it that gives men an advantage. It requires coordination, balance, stamina, and courage, not unusual strength or height.
And being light is a big advantage. Weight matters a lot in ski jumping. Ski jumpers tend to be naturally skinny people who starve themselves during the season. (Like gymnastics and horse racing, it’s a sport that encourages eating disorders.)
For discrimination against women in ski jumping, see
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/02/did-olympic-committee-discriminate-against-female-ski-jumpers
For ski jumping and eating disorders, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/sports/olympics/12skijump.html?pagewanted=all
My aunt and I were talking about this the other day, more specifically about how the Olympics is the only time anyone ever watches women’s hockey (while NHL stars are practically gods among men – this is Canada). THen my uncle said, “Well, the women just aren’t as good.” To which my aunt replied, “EXCUSE me? You want to repeat that to your DAUGHTERS?” He was suitably chastened.
I was going to chime in on the real reason women ski jumping wasn’t allowed, but Bloix beat me to it.
They’re totally open on their admission criteria – which is whether sports are widely practiced both in many countries and by many people. That’s why there are women only disciplines (rhythmic gymnastics / synchronized swimming), not because the IOC are worried about mangled testicles.
If anything, standards on widespread practice for admitting women’s sports are lower than those for men’s sports. You can’t really make the claim womens ski jumping is really a mass participation sport, even by the standards of winter events. I don’t think that’s wrong – I just think if anything the IOC are pushing women’s sport by being more accommodating about standards, rather than trying to cut women out, and they deserve credit for it.
So odd they added a women’s marathon only in 1984. The marathon is the event with the smallest performance gap between the top women and men. That by itself should suggest that women can “handle” the marathon.
Ski jumping is just inexcusable. There’s just no reason to exclude women. Women do Tae Kwon Do. How could ski jumping be a problem?
As for Saudi Arabia, is anyone else interested in the movement to get the IOC to ban Saudi teams because of the mistreatment of women in that country? The IOC banned South Africa for many years. I think it’s unfair to have punished (deservedly) South Africa for so many years and still allow Saudi athletes to participate.
Regarding that first Olympic women’s marathon – I remember watching that, and the commentators tut-tutting about how Joan Benoit wasn’t stopping for water, which surely was gonna affect her later, you know – and then they just sort of dried up, as she got closer to the stadium and eventually won the race, better than a minute ahead of Grete Waitz. It was amazing. And then Gabriela Andersen-Schiess coming in later and taking over 5 minutes to do her lap around the stadium.
There was an ad – I forget for what – that ran during this year’s Olympics that had Joan Benoit in it, and I just pointed at the tv and went “Isn’t that Joan Benoit? That’s Joan Benoit! That’s Joan Benoit!” Still amazing.
I absolutely teared up watching the medal ceremonies for the boxers. Here are these women, who only a short time ago had been whaling on each other in the ring, with the medals around their necks and their arms over each others’ shoulders, bruises and all, grinning. That and watching Claressa Shields walk into the ring, that got to me too. When I was watching the Olympics as a girl, and I was obsessed with the Olympics as a girl (the coverage was even worse back then: no cable, and practically nothing of the non-marquee sports. Biathlon? Forget it.), it seemed so wrong that there were sports women didn’t compete in. Most of what you saw on your screen was men, except when gymnastics or figure skating was on. In 1984, in the Olympics, women did not contest hammer throw, pole vault, boxing, fencing except foil, soccer, judo, modern pentathlon, water polo, weightlifting, or wrestling. I believe the only one they do not now contest is greco-roman wrestling.
On ski jump and girlie bits, from that Mother Jones article linked above:
This was in 2005, just before the Torino Games. Also in the 21st Century.
For some reason, the fact that Shaherkani’s father is appealing to Saudi-Islamic law for the insults to his daughter pleases me. Not because people might be whipped, but because it shows a sort of good-for-the-gander-good-for-the-goose mentality that I like. I kind of feel that it’s also embracing the idea his daughter can be a good Saudi woman and an Olympic athlete, it’s not an either/or proposition.
I don’t really know how you can twist the IOC’s hand on Saudi Arabia. All countries to at least some degree have a higher bar for sports participation for women than men, where do you draw the line? Do women need to have as many sports clubs in Saudi Arabia as men do for them to participate? Does their need to be mandatory physical education for women in order for them to be admitted? And there are still many countries which treat significant ethnic minorities quite badly and are still allowed to participate.
@ 8
Bullshit. The IOC may be “totally open on their admission criteria” but they are also totally haphazard in requiring sports to meet that criteria. For every reason the IOC had given to exclude female ski jumpers – participation levels, world championships – there were examples of sports that were included despite not meeting the same criteria. If the IOC wants you in, you’re in; if they don’t, then you don’t meet the criteria. This had been covered quite extensively when female ski jumpers were denied participation at the Vancouver Olympics. I’m surprised you missed it.
@8 – the thing is, there are a number of smaller sports where the Olympics is far and away the most important event. If the sport isn’t in the Olympics, then serious athletes won’t compete in it. So there’s a chicken and egg problem – women’s ski jumping hasn’t been Olympics-worthy because there are no world-class women ski jumpers; but without the goal of qualifying for the Olympics, the best young women won’t train as ski jumpers because there’s no point in doing so.
We saw this in fencing: women historically did not compete in saber, and there was no saber event at the Olympics. When it was proposed to add women’s saber, the dominant fencing countries didn’t want to, because there were no women’s sabrists. Duh.
In 2004, women’s saber was added, and the US (not a fencing power, needless to say) cleaned up because of a couple of coaches here who took women’s saber seriously.
Other countries have now had eight years to train women sabrists and this year the US was shut out of the medals.
i dont get it? what girly bits are they talking about being harmed by ski jumping?
Your delicate pink uterus might be jarred loose? I really have no idea.
There’s nothing that makes men more hysterical than the idea of uteri on the loose, rampaging through towns, smashing up storefronts, etc. N’fact, I’m pretty sure we invented the word “hysteria” specifically to describe many men’s irrational panic at the thought of unrestrained uteri, the poor dears.
I could be wrong.
RARH! Killer uterus!
Umm.
I’m all for standing up for one’s daughter/standing up to sexism in general, but I don’t think that we should be celebrating the 100 lashes people might receive for making dumbass, mysoginistic remarks.
Oh dear, looking back I see I’ve derailed this thread. Just in case anyone is still here, it might be worth saying that only a generation ago Ireland was a priest-ridden, misogynistic horror of a place and look how far it’s come. It’s hard to believe that Saudi Arabia can ever change, but Ireland is not a bad example of how change is possible.
On a slightly different but still-relevant topic, this is a link to a Sports Illustrated article about Caster Semenya, and the silver medal she won in the women’s 800-meter race:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/2012/writers/david_epstein/08/11/caster-semenya-800-meters/index.html
I found it interesting that there was very little controversy about her medal-winning performance, at least that I saw. I suspect that it would have been a different story had she won the gold medal.