Much has been made about the presence of female athletes at the London Olympics, with some commentators going so far as to call these the Women's Games. And it's true - audiences who have watched the Olympics have been treated to the sight of all kinds of women from all around the world doing … [Read more...]
Rower Jenn Gibbons doesn’t let attack deter her from her mission
Jenn Gibbons was on her way to becoming the first person to row the entire 1,500-mile perimeter of Lake Michigan, a feat she was undertaking with the goal of helping raise awareness of the role exercise plays in the fight against breast cancer. She was more than halfway through the two-month … [Read more...]
Internet shows love for Sarah Robles, America’s strongest woman
As recently as a few decades ago, Olympic athletes were bound by rules of competition that forbade them from making money from their sport, part of the International Olympic Committee's commitment an outdated ideal of an amateur athlete. Those rules were phased out starting in the 1970s, and now we … [Read more...]
Women’s tennis and the gender politics of grunting
Something I've noticed as I've gotten more and more into my training as an athlete is that I have a tendency to make some fairly unladylike noises when I'm really getting after it. I noticed this first when I broke 1:45 in the half marathon earlier this year. When I picked up the pace in my last … [Read more...]
The fight for women and girls in sport did not end with Title IX
This Saturday will mark the 40th anniversary of Title IX, a piece of legislation that has done more to open up sports and athletics to women and girls than just about any thing else I can think of. Women and girls did play sports prior to the passage of Title IX, but the lack of institutional … [Read more...]
Sports Illustrated puts spotlight on transgender athletes
Last week, reader Ilyse sent me this Sports Illustrated article about transgender athletes that pretty much blew me away. The article focused on Keelin Godsey, the first openly transgender athlete to qualify for the Olympic Trials, as a lens through which to examine the issues surrounding trans … [Read more...]
Women smiling with small pastel weights
(This is my blatant rip-off of the Hairpin's brilliant "Women laughing alone with salad" and the follow-up, "Women struggling to drink water.") … [Read more...]
Bikini Hockey League: because the world needs yet another bikini sport
Plans are in the works for yet another bikini sports league +ACY-ndash+ADs this time, a hockey league. Yes, you read that correctly.+ACY-nbsp+ADs A bikini hockey league. Some enterprising man in Oklahoma has decided to launch a bikini hockey league.+ACY-nbsp+ADs In Oklahoma. And not only that, he+ACY-rsquo+ADs-s trying to … [Read more...]
Why I find hope in the story of Paige Sultzbach and the forfeited baseball championship
In 1972, an 11-year-old girl named Maria wanted to play Little League baseball in New Jersey. +ACY-nbsp+ADs-She tried out for the team and was so good they made her pitcher. +ACY-nbsp+ADs-However, the organization's rules forbade girls from playing, and so she was kicked off the team and her uniform taken from … [Read more...]