Thoughts on the Winter Olympics

[Appalonia]

I've loved watching these Olympics and there's been so many women competing in them, it felt very balanced. However, there's 2 things that have struck me about them. Firstly, the level of respect that the male commentators have had for the female athletes, especially in the snowboard ing events, their sex, attractiveness just wasn't an issue, it was all about their skill and ability. It was so refreshing to hear men talk about women this way, but it reminded me of just how rare this is.

Secondly, seeing the joy in the female athletes faces when they won and the support they give each other, it was so touching to watch, but it made me think, if there were transgender athletes competing against women, how this would all be ruined, especially since sometimes the margin between winning and losing is literally a fraction of a second.

Also, hearing about how recently it's been that women were allowed to compete, e.g.bobsleigh, and how hard women had to fight to be included, that it would be a crying shame for women to lose this because of ideology?

I haven't watched the Olympics, but I did see that one photo of the woman who'd hoped to win gold (in skiing? snowboarding? don't remember) congratulating and being happy for the one who did win it.

She looked genuinely happy for her.

I've never seen that before at that level of competition.

Maybe women really do bring in something otherwise missing. (I have to say, my credo is there's nothing stopping men from being real human beings if they want to be.) It'd be a huge shame if all that was lost as soon as it was born because of a bunch of me-me-me-me-first-look-at-me awfully male-seeming behavior.

I think this is a feature of Winter Sports, rather than male/female. I've been watching almost wall to wall Winter Olympics as I'm ill, and I've noticed the incredible supportiveness and camaraderie in both sexes; so different from the Summer Games. It's wonderful to see sportspeople cheering those who have just knocked them off the top spot.

The interesting thing for me about this year's winter olympics is the number of new(ish) mixed events - cross country skiing, snowboard and ski cross, even curling, but in every event "mixed" means one or more people of different sexes, competing against the same number of people of those sexes.

The difference between male and female is so obvious everywhere (except perhaps curling, I'm not sure there though there are men's, women's and mixed competitions). The cross-country skiing relays, for example, all had fixed orders of competitors (female, female, male, male in the one I watched) as that was the only way to keep the competition even.

The camaraderie between all competitors, men and women, was great to see.

But why are all female athletes referred to as girls all the time? I know some of them are but most are fully grown adult

I have not watched any of the Olympics. Partly because I watch sports I love and not sports I don't, and sports I love don't feature in the winter olympics.

Saying that, I may well have watched some of the Olympics out of curiousity but have deliberately avoided it completely because the IOC is deeply immoral and just cannot be supported by right-thinking people -

(1) Environmental consequences of the Olympics (new stadiums every time, in this case all the artificial snow

(2) No country with such a poor record on human rights should be allowed

(3) They tolerate drug cheating by Russia and I don't see the point of watching sport when you have no idea why the russians are competing and which particular russians are the massive cheats. Obviously other countries and individuals are less clean than they should be two

(4) They tolerate sex cheats - men in women's sport

Why on earth should any moral person support the IOC?

@TurquoiseBaubles

The interesting thing for me about this year's winter olympics is the number of new(ish) mixed events - cross country skiing, snowboard and ski cross, even curling, but in every event "mixed" means one or more people of different sexes, competing against the same number of people of those sexes.

The difference between male and female is so obvious everywhere (except perhaps curling, I'm not sure there though there are men's, women's and mixed competitions). The cross-country skiing relays, for example, all had fixed orders of competitors (female, female, male, male in the one I watched) as that was the only way to keep the competition even.

The camaraderie between all competitors, men and women, was great to see.

Mixed events like this make no sense to me. And is it even a mixed event?

A mixed event is something like motorsport or equestrian where women can compete on an equal footing.

The event you describe is more of an "aggregate" event, where the winner is determined by which country has the four individuals whose total time is better than the total time of the other nations. The aggregate could be made up of 4 men or 4 women, but they chose to do 2 of each as a gimmick, or - to put it another way - combining a 2 person male aggregate race with a 2 person female race and combining the results so you only have to give one gold not two!

@ValancyRedfern

I think this is a feature of Winter Sports, rather than male/female. I've been watching almost wall to wall Winter Olympics as I'm ill, and I've noticed the incredible supportiveness and camaraderie in both sexes; so different from the Summer Games. It's wonderful to see sportspeople cheering those who have just knocked them off the top spot.

I appreciate good acting too!

I love watching the Olympics irrespective of whether it is the winter or summer and I do feel that we need to remember the spectacular camaraderie shown in the heptathlon, always a joy to see.

I watched most of it including the pairs skating including the ‘NB’ Timothy Leduc & his partner ashley cain gribble. I was waiting for the NB moment when Ashley lifted or threw Timothy but colour me shocked, that never happened!

@NotMyGenderGoblin

Winning these kind of events show that a nation has a "balanced" funding/talent ID stream supporting both women's and men's events to the highest level rather than funding one and ignoring the other.

If a country has a tonne of success in male events but none in the equivalent female event having a risk of losing potential medals might motivate them to support the less successful discipline more (or highlight systemic issues within the sport in that country...)

Every sport that can is introducing mixed sex events because they’re very exciting to watch.

After reading about the Valieva case I feel strongly that the minimum age for competing should be 18. She is not a child prodigy who reached a high standard at a unusually young age. She is only as good as she is because she’s young. She’ll be retired before adulthood. I don’t think any Olympic sport should be framed in such a way that only children can win.

I love the ice skating and agree it should be an adult competition. I do feel a bit icky though when I see a row of old men taking notes on a young girl whose underwear is exposed as part of the sport. I really think sports like ice skating and gymnastics need to move away from the perve mode so that the female athletes are celebrated for their physical performance alone.

@Carbiesdreamhouse

I love the ice skating and agree it should be an adult competition. I do feel a bit icky though when I see a row of old men taking notes on a young girl whose underwear is exposed as part of the sport. I really think sports like ice skating and gymnastics need to move away from the perve mode so that the female athletes are celebrated for their physical performance alone.

Yes, the one thing that makes my teeth grate is the women and girls still wearing the revealing outfits. I'm faintly surprised it's still like this; I really hope it's not because they find themselves being marked down if they don't, or something equally horrible.

The rest of it seems generally much more equal and respectful compared the summer games and other sports. It would be good if we heard 'women' instead of 'girls' much more though!