Clare Balding throws women under the bus

Claire, you have a platform where you could have used your voice to make a difference.
How disappointing.

Perhaps she has her eye on a key role at the Tokyo Olympics, so wants to reassure potential employers she is on side.

It is inevitable that there will be controversy in Tokyo if NZ weightlifters etc appear to gain advantage from male physiques. This will be the first time many people will realise the inroads trans-athletes have made into female sport. It may be important for some broadcasters to be confident that their commentators are on message.

powershower I love your post.

I wish I was disappointed by CB but I'm not even surprised. I wonder if she'd have told Martina or Sharron to not bother their silly little heads about it and let the men talk amongst themselves.

powershower you could add "Q10 why was the NH mares' allowance increased from 5lb to 7lb? In fact Claire, why do you think is there a mares' allowance at all?"

Her comments on channel 4 about the jockey's teeth were a source of deep regret to her. She knew it was a bad faux pas and it did affect her career for a while, I believe.

Perhaps that experience has made her stick her head in the sand on this issue - as we all know what happens to women who speak out.

However, if she bothered to scratch beneath the surface she would soon see the facts laid out in a way that no reasonable or rational person can ignore.

I was actually spluttering at the radio when she said ‘it doesn’t help to have people like us talking about it’.

Good on JHB for bringing it up and putting her on the spot.

Sharron, Martina, Kelly - can't they all have a conversation with her?

Powershower great post

Naively I was hoping Claire might at least have a more nuanced view.

She herself personally experienced sexism and prejudice as a jockey, due to her female body.

She speaks about it in her autobiography, talking about how hard it was especially with regard to keeping a low enough body weight to compete against the diminutive male jockeys.

Hi Clare, if you're reading this...it's quiz time!

Q1. How many mares have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
Q2. How many geldings (male horses that have had the equivalent of "bottom surgery") have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
Q3. How many times did Quevega win the mares' hurdle at Cheltenham?
Q4. How many times would Quevega have won the above race if geldings were allowed in it at level weights as long as they wore a pink bridle?
Q5. Why do Apples Jade and some other mares do so much worse in the springtime and why do geldings not have the same problem?
Q6. How many Grade 1 races did Battaash win - against entire colts- after he was gelded?
Q7. Would Battaash have been allowed to claim the mares' weight allowance if his name had been changed to Battette and he wore a pink sparkly bridle?
Q8. Why not?
Q9. What if we gave him a couple of oestrogen jabs? Could he be officially registered as a mare?

I would imagine she gets hired to commentate on other sports because she is a well known and likeable face.

I'm not excusing them not using people who are knowledgeable in those sports, but I think that's probably why. Didn't she and people like Gary Linekar commentate on a lot of the London Olympics? Alongside somebody knowledgeable in each field. I enjoyed watching a lot of sports I never would have usually, in no small part to likeable famous commentators who didn't necessarily know the sports working alongside lesser known knowledgeable ones.

I always quite liked her. What a fucking disappointment.

What on Earth makes you think that??

The fact that she has been givien plumb jobs presenting on athletics and tennis by the BBC when she doesn't appear to have the first idea what she is talking about.

I didn't and won't comment on her knowledge of horse raving as it isn't a sport I follow but knowing about one sport does not necessarily translate into being the most suitable person for any sport. There are numerous women who could be doing Wimbledon Today who would do a much better job but haven't got a look in.

Because she has a posh background and keeps being hired to talk about sports she knows little about and clearly has no interest in.

I suspect she is one of those women who is more comfortable in men's company and cares little about women.

Oh ffs. I had high hopes for her.

“ She has always struck me as someone who got her position through connections rather than merit while other more knowledgeable women were overlooked”

What on Earth makes you think that??

She knows nothing much about swimming, yet is employed as a commentator whilst intelligent and informed people like Sharron Davies are left doing poolside interviews.

Most probably because the BBC, whatever they claim, dont take women's sport seriously.

“Women were not the people who should be talking about it”??? Erm who SHOULD talk about it then

Is she maybe minimising the impact of males in women's sport because her specific area of expertise is one of the few which can be genuinely mixed sex?

Clare brought up Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps having bigger feet, a bigger wingspan and being taller

What has that got to do with anything? If you compete in a sport segregated by sex, you should play on whichever side matches your biological sex. AFAIK, swimming isn't further divided by weight or height so the comment is completely irrelevant.

"Julie brought up the Kent cricketer, Clare brought up Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps having bigger feet, a bigger wingspan and being taller, and that women were not the people who should be talking about it!!"

Any chance that she meant that men should be objecting to the unfairness as they know the physical advantages they have over women? Just a hope...

She has always struck me as someone who got her position through connections rather than merit while other more knowledgeable women were overlooked. She may know about horse racing (I don't so can't really comment)

Are you kidding me?? She is incredibly knowledgeable on all the equestrian disciplines! She is a fantastic and interesting to listen to equestrian commentator. I didn't know she commentated on other sports but I can assure you she has more than earned her position commentating on horse sport!

She's always played her sexuality very low key (as is her right) - but yes I'm gutted to hear her not defend women in sport.

Disappointed but not surprised. She has a career to protect - look at the vitriol, threats and hatred that a black lesbian lawyer got for daring to challenge homophobia and the removal of rights for women. The pile on that CB would get if she dared to put her head above the parapet would be horrific - going along with the gaslighting and lies is the only way many women are coping.
These are exceptionally dangerous times for women - including those in the public eye.