It is the morning of Day 9 of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As I write this post Canada is boasting 10 medals: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 6 Bronze.
Ten medals, Nine competitors/teams, Five events, One thing in common:
By day 8 of the Rio Olympics, all Canadian Olympic medals have been won by women.
These women are intense athletes. They’ve trained rigorously for their chance to be on the world stage, to represent Canada. They’ve broken records, they’ve made history, they’ve grabbed our nations attention and forced us to watch them succeed.
Yesterday, sixteen year old Penny Oleksiak set an Olympic record in the 100m freestyle. She propelled herself from 7th in the race to tie for 1st. With this she also became the first Canadian swimmer to win 4 medals in a single Olympic games.
Today, Rosie MacLennan became the first woman to defend her Olympic title on the trampoline.
On Monday, the Canadian women’s rugby team made history by winning the Bronze medal, its significance being that this is the first year that Women’s rugby has been included in the Summer Olympics.
As I write this, Canada has 10 Olympic medals, all of which have been won by female competitors, and yet when I type any combination of things into my search bar, I cannot find a single article that comments on the significance of this feat. Or on the importance of these athletes in the eyes of all young people in Canada, and not just because they are amazing competitors but because they are women.
So here is one such article. Here is a call to recognize the female power that is taking over our Canadian medal board. This is SIGNIFICANT!
Having only women on the board for Canada right now is significant for more than one reason, here are my top 3:
- Role models
Naturally, these athletes are becoming role models to younger athletes all over Canada and the world. They are showing young girls that it is okay to be strong, it is okay to work toward a dream, it is important to strive for goals. They are showing young boys that it is okay to be strong, it is okay work toward a dream, it is important to strive for goals, AND that it is okay for women to do so too. Little boys don’t suffer when we recognize the successes of women, little girls suffer when we don’t.
If you think we, as a society, are doing well to teach boys and men about the strength, importance, value, and status of women, I can assure you, we are not quite there yet. Children are little sponges, they see headlines and news stories. Maybe they saw Jian Ghomeshi walk away from a conviction earlier this year, his female accusers publicly shamed. Maybe they have witnessed a woman be shamed for her clothing, her body, for nursing her child in public, for any number of things we see in day to day life. They are also seeing these athletes. They are seeing them on newspapers, TV screens, and billboards. They are little sponges and they are taking in these successes too.
2. The media
What I have seen in the media is a backlash of opinions on the overuse of journalists, reporters, and commentators comparing female athletes to men or giving the credit for their win to a man. I agree with everything I have read that this is NOT okay. This issue stems from the conception that sports are masculine. Men’s sports are no more important than women’s sports and therefore we need to stop comparing women’s successes and performances to those of a man. When a woman succeeds at a sport she deserves all of the credit without giving her a masculine label. No, Simone Biles is not the “Kobe Bryant of gymnasics” and Penny Oleksiak is not the next Michael Phelps. They are both female athletes, full of estrogen and progesterone, who are KILLING it and holding their own in their field.
3. Funding
Women’s sports are less watched and less funded than their male counterparts. This is one of the most amazing parts about having only female held medals in Canada right now. It has the potential to cause a shift in that imbalance, but we need to ask for it. We need to acknowledge it, shout for it, work for it. With Canadian women owning the medal board, it is causing us to take notice. We are WATCHING them, we are tuning in to see them win, following them on social media, watching replays, setting alarms to see races and performances. We are giving them the viewership we would normally give male sport in the non-Olympic time.
What would happen if we were to continue to give women’s sports the same viewership? Easy. They would get more funding. More children, perhaps even more girls, would join sports, both because they look up to athletes as examples AND because there would be funding for them to pursue it. With more children/girls/boys/teens in sports, we would have a healthier society, both physical and mental.
So lets recognize this feat for what it is, a huge success by some amazing Canadian athletes, who are all women. This is an achievement for Canadian women, it deserves recognition, it deserves to be shouted from rooftops, posted on billboards, and written in articles on major news networks. Recognize it in front of your children, tell them about these female Canadian athletes, sit them in front of the TV and show them the races and routines. Encourage them to join the sport that sparks their interest, even if that sport doesn’t have a high attendance of girls/boys in your area.
So, congratulations to:
Penny Oleksiak, Rosie MacLennan, the Women’s Rugby Sevens team, the 4x100m freestyle relay team, the 4x200m freestyle relay team, Meaghan Benfeito/Roseline Filion, Patricia Obee/Lindsay Jennerich, Hilary Caldwell, and Kylie Masse
and thank you for being a shining light to my daughters, and to children and men/women all over Canada.
What made me love my body 