FALLING FAR FROM THE TREE
I’m not normally a TV watcher, but I make an exception for the Olympics. Mom, dad and I have watched a whole lot of the events the past two weeks, and we all enjoy the games. So far, my pretend granddaughter, Simone Biles, and Snoop Dog have been my favorites.
I ran across the following about how female athletes are treated differently than male athletes and I thought you might enjoy it too.
When it comes to the female athletes competing right now in the 2024 Olympic Games, want to know what I couldn’t care less about?
What their hair looks like. What their BMI is. What they wear when they compete.
If they have makeup on.
How long their nails are. How masculine or feminine they appear to be.
These are the most boring, uninteresting parts about all of them.
Talk to me instead about how the biker who won gold in BMX did so wearing her brother’s number on her jersey, and how she broke down in tears afterward because he was there cheering her on despite suffering a horrible crash in 2020 that left him in a coma for two months and despite her own wipeout at the Tokyo games that crushed her spirit.
Talk to me instead about how the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history became only the second swimmer EVER to win the same race in four straight Olympic games (she did it the first time at 15 years old, no big deal).
Talk to me instead about how the gymnast who struggled with her mental health defied all the couch potato internet haters, focused all her energy on getting better, and fought her way to an epic comeback to become the most decorated American Olympic gymnast.
Talk to me instead about how the rugby player who preaches body positivity and acceptance helped the women’s sevens team make history by earning its first-ever medal (and the first medal for U.S. rugby period since 1924).
Talk to me instead about how the rower who won gold secretly wrote about her dreams in her diary at the age of 14, only to have her note handed back to her seven years later by her dying father as a reminder that even when she didn’t believe in herself, he always did.
Talk to me instead about how the judo champion who has been a trailblazer for women’s rights in sports worked tirelessly to ensure that breastfeeding athletes received hotel rooms during the games, brought her daughter with her to training, and held her aloft after winning the bronze.
Talk to me instead about how a 55-year-old shooter is the first female athlete to compete in 10 Olympic games, setting a record for longevity in her sport.
Talk to me instead about how this is the FIRST Olympics in history where we have true gender parity—5250 male athletes competing and 5250 female athletes competing.
And I really couldn’t care less about what they look like, how much they weigh, if they choose to wear leggings instead of bikini bottoms, what their hair looks like, how long their nails are, how old they are, or if they don’t fit the “mold” of what society says they should. Because the only thing worth talking about is how all these female athletes are out there absolutely DOMINATING in their sports, and they are proving there is space for EVERYONE.
The future is female.
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