American women rule the London Olympics - now what?
LONDON
–
The 2012 Olympic Games are over, and while nations will debate and
discuss their performances in the weeks and months to come, there can be
no doubt about one overriding topic:
Women were the big winners.
There
were more female athletes at the Games than at any other in history:
nearly 5,000 from more than 200 nations, 44.4% of the overall total.
They participated on every national team, even that of exceedingly
reluctant Saudi Arabia.They dominated the U.S. team in every way: More women than men made the American team, and they won far more gold medals than the American men. The USA
won 46 gold medals in the Games, more than any other nation. Women won
29 of them. Were U.S. women their own nation, they would have finished
ahead of every other country's total gold medal count except China and
tied Great Britain.
Amazing. The only word that can be used when talking about the turn out of this year's Olympics. The women surely outdid themselves and proved that they are forces to be reckoned with. They have gone from being forbidden to participate, to dominating in almost every aspect of the Olympics. It is safe to say that the gap is closing between men and women and my guess is that it will continue to do so. Below is a link to a slideshow that depicts almost every game held in the London Olympics, along with the pictures is a table on the side that tells who won more gold medals. You might even be surprised by the outcome.
The video above indeed backs my opinion that the gap is closing between men and women, but also states that even though these women are beating the fastest times of those men who came before and coming extremely close to the men of today, their bodies operate entirely differently. So will we see a pattern of women continually beating their counterparts? I think it is safe to say that the answer is no. Another point that makes this video fitting is the controversy seen between races. The Americans and Europeans insist this young woman depicted in the video is using performance enhancing drugs, while Asians believe this to be insane. It just goes to show, a lot of hard work and training goes a long way.
An example of this often hidden difference in the way men and women's bodies move is provided in a study in the journal Gait and Posture by Valentina Graci and colleagues, working at the University of Maryland, Washington University, and St. Louis University. No sophisticated equipment was required to isolate this gender-specific difference in how our bodies move. The researchers simply asked men and women to stand on one leg and squat. Such a fundamental movement, the one-leg squat is the foundation of running, jumping, balance, and lifting. Could this simple maneuver differ that much between men and women?
The researchers videotaped the subjects performing a one-leg squat and analyzed the movements by computer. What they found was that men and women use different movement strategies in performing a single leg squat. The results are explained by structural differences in muscle and skeleton between men and women, and they also explain why women are at risk of greater knee injury and knee pain than men.
In squatting, women held their upper body (trunk) more upright than men, who leaned their upper body forward. By the laws of gravity, both men and women must keep their center of mass directly above the supporting foot to remain in balance. Both do so, but men and women do it differently. The shoulders and hip of women remain aligned vertically as they squat --forming a pillar of strength; men on the other hand, bend at the waste, forming a triangle of strength with their buttocks jutting out behind them, much the way a weight lifter hoists from a squatting position with massive barbells resting on his shoulders.
This difference means, however, that there must be other compensating actions in the joint movements of men and women in performing a squat on one leg. As they squat women flex their trunk toward the weight-bearing leg supporting them as they lower in balance straight down over their foot, but men do the opposite: flex their upper body toward the leg bearing no weight at all. Both actions keep the center of mass in the upper body balanced above the supporting leg, but men, with their buttocks slightly behind the supporting foot, move their trunk so as to use the upper and lower torso as a counter weight above the supporting leg.
As previously stated, men and women are very different when it comes to biology. The video above states that men's hearts pump faster than women's, and this article is just another piece of evidence to suggest that there is a huge difference. It is never that women are not as good, it is that their bodies do not allow them to compete on equal level as the boys, for they have an intrinsic advantage that cannot be broken.
Olympic Games and the Tricky Science of Telling Men From Women
By Jon Bardin, Los Angeles Times
Of all the obstacles athletes have had to overcome to compete in the Olympics, perhaps the most controversial has been the gender test.
Originally designed to prevent men from competing in women's events, it is based on the premise that competitors can be sorted into two categories via established scientific rules. But the biological boundaries of gender aren't always clear.
The article above and below are a very important part of the Olympics. The story of Caster Semenya is a compelling one, in that as soon as people took notice that she was going above and beyond the other women competing against her, they assumed she was of a different gender. She had to face embarrassing rumors and tests that questioned her femininity, and why? For breaking records and achieving times not thought to ever be attained by women athletes.
By: Sam Murphy
Sport is not a level playing field. If some athletes have 'better' hormones, then surely that's the same as having better genes.
Sport is not a level playing field. If some athletes have 'better' hormones, then surely that's the same as having better genes.
Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
The 800m runner Caster Semenya (centre), who had to undergo invasive tests to prove she is a woman.
The 800m runner Caster Semenya (centre), who had to undergo invasive tests to prove she is a woman.
You may remember the furore surrounding the South African 800m runner Caster Semenya when, in 2009, she who won the world championships in Berlin by a huge 2-second margin. Even before the medals had been handed out, Semenya's authenticity as a woman was being questioned and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirmed that gender verification tests were being undertaken. While Semenya's case was being reviewed by the IAAF she was banned from competition, but did not escape the glare of media speculation (one headline asked "Woman, man or a little bit of both?"). Although the IAAF never made its findings public, it was widely reported that Semenya had both male and female sex organs and testosterone levels three times higher than typically found in a woman. Semenya got to keep her medal and, after an 11-month hiatus, the right to continue competing against other women. Through her legal representatives, she stated at the time: "I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being."
The bungled and insensitive handling of Semenya's case led to the IAAF reviewing its gender authentication policy in consultation with the International Olympic Committee. Last year, they introduced regulations specifically related to hyperandrogenism – the presence of excessive levels of male hormones in women. The new rules state that a female athlete's serum testosterone levels must be below the male threshold (or, if within the male range, androgen resistance – in which the presence of the hormones proffers no advantage – must be proven). If this isn't the case, then the athlete may need to undergo surgical or hormone treatment and be subject to regular monitoring if they wish to continue competing as a woman. At present, the IAAF is the only sporting governing body to have adopted these guidelines but it is expected many more will follow suit.
In the dim and distant past (the 1960s, actually) athletes had to parade naked in front of officials to verify their sex. So you could say that it's a positive step that testing has become more sophisticated, comprehensive and considered. But is measuring a woman's "femaleness" acceptable at all?
Women’s Olympic Rise Has Been a Long Time Coming
By: MARY PILON
The news that the United States will send more women than men to compete on its Olympic team in London reflects a turnaround in women’s participation in the modern Games that’s evolved over the past century.
The 530-member U.S. Olympic team is comprised of 269 women and 261 men, spanning 25 different sports.
In 2008, the U.S. sent 306 men and 282 women to Beijing (588 total) and 279 men and 254 women (533 total) went to Athens, according to the International Society of Olympic Historians. In 2000, 332 men went to Sydney and 253 women for a total of 586 athletes.
Women also represent both ends of the age spectrum of the U.S. 2012 team. Karen O’Connor, a 54-year-old equestrian, will be the oldest member of the team, and swimmer Katie Ledecky, 15, is the youngest. (The average age for the team is 27, according to the U.S.O.C.) There are 54 dads and 13 moms on the team.
At Olympics in the past, the ratio of women has been lower. At the 2008 Beijing Games, out of the 11,196 athletes, 4,746 were women, a record 42 percent, according to the International Olympic Committee. At the 1960 Games in Rome, only 611 women competed, representing just 11.5 percent of the athletes. This year, Saudi Arabia is including women on its Olympic team for the first time, one of only a handful of delegations that has resisted sending females.
The presence of women at the elite international level is certainly a departure from the ancient Olympic Games, which were reserved entirely for men. Women first competed at the Olympics at the 1900 Paris Games in lawn tennis and golf. In 1928, gymnastics and track were added, expanding opportunities for women, but distance running events over 200 meters were eliminated in 1960, due to unconfirmed reports that women collapsed after running a longer race, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.
“They simply looked tired,” Mallon said. “But in that era, that was unacceptable to the I.O.C. honchos.”
The women runners who remained often bore the brunt of budget cuts. In 1936, the American Olympic Committee faced a deficit and “ruthlessly slashed” the women’s track team from 17 to four athletes, according to The Times on July 6, 1936.
“It all resolved down to the point where many athletes will have to pay their own way, in part or in full, if they expect to compete in the Olympics.”
Five days later, The Times reported that “some of the girls who qualified for the team are virtually stranded in New York and are on the verge of hunger.”
Only 76 years later, they’re the majority.
It surely is a wonderful journey to see and trace back, from not being able to participate at all, to outnumbering the men on the United States Olympic team that went to London. These women are making history. This article does a great job of displaying the numbers from previous Olympics and comparing those to the beginning, when the Olympics first came about. The sky is the limit for the future of women in the Olympics.
The news that the United States will send more women than men to compete on its Olympic team in London reflects a turnaround in women’s participation in the modern Games that’s evolved over the past century.
The 530-member U.S. Olympic team is comprised of 269 women and 261 men, spanning 25 different sports.
In 2008, the U.S. sent 306 men and 282 women to Beijing (588 total) and 279 men and 254 women (533 total) went to Athens, according to the International Society of Olympic Historians. In 2000, 332 men went to Sydney and 253 women for a total of 586 athletes.
Women also represent both ends of the age spectrum of the U.S. 2012 team. Karen O’Connor, a 54-year-old equestrian, will be the oldest member of the team, and swimmer Katie Ledecky, 15, is the youngest. (The average age for the team is 27, according to the U.S.O.C.) There are 54 dads and 13 moms on the team.
At Olympics in the past, the ratio of women has been lower. At the 2008 Beijing Games, out of the 11,196 athletes, 4,746 were women, a record 42 percent, according to the International Olympic Committee. At the 1960 Games in Rome, only 611 women competed, representing just 11.5 percent of the athletes. This year, Saudi Arabia is including women on its Olympic team for the first time, one of only a handful of delegations that has resisted sending females.
The presence of women at the elite international level is certainly a departure from the ancient Olympic Games, which were reserved entirely for men. Women first competed at the Olympics at the 1900 Paris Games in lawn tennis and golf. In 1928, gymnastics and track were added, expanding opportunities for women, but distance running events over 200 meters were eliminated in 1960, due to unconfirmed reports that women collapsed after running a longer race, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon.
“They simply looked tired,” Mallon said. “But in that era, that was unacceptable to the I.O.C. honchos.”
The women runners who remained often bore the brunt of budget cuts. In 1936, the American Olympic Committee faced a deficit and “ruthlessly slashed” the women’s track team from 17 to four athletes, according to The Times on July 6, 1936.
“It all resolved down to the point where many athletes will have to pay their own way, in part or in full, if they expect to compete in the Olympics.”
Five days later, The Times reported that “some of the girls who qualified for the team are virtually stranded in New York and are on the verge of hunger.”
Only 76 years later, they’re the majority.
It surely is a wonderful journey to see and trace back, from not being able to participate at all, to outnumbering the men on the United States Olympic team that went to London. These women are making history. This article does a great job of displaying the numbers from previous Olympics and comparing those to the beginning, when the Olympics first came about. The sky is the limit for the future of women in the Olympics.
No comments:
Post a Comment