Celebrating female Olympians

[PermanentTemporary]

No shortage of them!

Just watching the amazing Katie Ledecky crushing the opposition over 1500m. What a woman.

The gymnasts are all adult women - although they are also pretty small, Simone Biles is 4'7". Yep, low centre of gravity certainly helps with skating, and all three of the finalists have Japanese heritage, a nation not exactly noted for tall women.

Sky Brown!! So young and so inspiring.

I know that she has been mentioned already
Simone Biles

Sifan Hassan who is running the 5000m, 10000m and marathon at these games. Madness.

Last time she did 1500m, 5000m and 10000m and got two golds and a bronze. Bronze already in the bag for 5000m in Paris.

I am going to buck the trend regarding the teenage girls skating. It’s amazing what they can do and amazing what they have achieved but I am very wary of children being celebrated and championed for their precociousness and the pressure that comes with that. We see it regularly in other situations, the latest maths whizz kid, chess genius, going to university at 12 to do astrophysics or whatever. Sometimes it’s too much for them and it can affect mental health trying to forever living up to it.

I don’t know, maybe I’m being too negative. I just hope they don’t go off the rails (excuse the skating pun.)

Taken from Wikipedia:

"On 28 May 2020, while training in California, she suffered a "horrific" fall from a halfpipe ramp which left her with several skull fractures and a broken left wrist and hand.[16] She was flown to a hospital and was reported as being unresponsive on arrival. Her father said afterwards that she was "lucky to be alive", whilst Brown herself said it was her worst fall yet."

Sky Brown was 11. I'm not happy at all about skateboarding being an Olympic sport.

@NotBadConsidering I almost started a thread when I saw an 11 year old was competeing in the Olympic skateboarding.

I'm just not sure to be honest. It is so young. So easily taken advantage of.
Difficult at that age to say no to adults in power.
Do they stay in the Olympic village? Alone?
Seem so vulnerable and I wonder about the long term impact-both physically and emotionally for them.

I am glad to see the trend for gymnasts is now strong confident women with much more longevity than the much younger girls we used to see-some prepubescent and achingly thin.

I wonder if there needs to be some age guidance?
Although I'm sure I trust the IOC to put such guidelines in place.

Age limits are put in place by each governing body rather than the IOC (e.g. 16 for gymnasts). I don't think that World Skate has any age limits for elite competitors. At the end of the day, skating is a kids' sport, invented, developed and popularised by kids. The entire culture behind it is that of teenagers.

Yes, Sky had a nasty accident when she was 11 - as do plenty of skaters, and BMXers, and kids who go and build dirt jumps in their local woods. Every time I go to our local jumps there will be at least one kid there in a cast coming to watch their mates. It wasn't because she is a competitive skater that she had an accident, it's because she's a skater - it comes with the territory.

Abigail Lyle. Representing Ireland on her own in dressage as we are quite crap at it, produced a beautiful test and scored good marks.

The shitbox who battered and choked her and threatened to throw her in a bath of bleach before she escaped his clutches is no longer infecting the planet with his existence so it's a slight pity he never got to see how well she did.

I agree @NotBadConsidering - it makes me feel uneasy. I'm old enough to remember the days when gymnastics was dominated by teenagers from the Eastern Bloc and I think it is much better now that there are age limits on it. In fact I have been pleased to see many more mature wome excelling across a range of events.
I don't suppose for a moment that these young skaters are being subjected to the same kind of treatment as those gymnasts but nor do I think they are making really informed decisions about their lives.At least 2 of those young skaters were carrying significant injuries and were being praised for their bravery etc.I totally get the drive that athletes have to compete in competitions they have worked hard to prepare for even if they are ill or injured especially for something as big as the Olympics but what are the long term effects on still developing bodies? In other circumstances we'd view allowing a child to be put at those kinds of risks as neglect yet in this case it's something to be lauded on national TV.
It must be impossible to have anything even remotely resembling a normal childhood and education whilst training and competing at this level in your mid teens. It probably feels great right now but the long term effects of that may be very damaging. A kid won't understand that, they probably know nothing else, but the adults in the scenario should do. Where do these girls go now? The commentators go on about how young they are and how much more they could do, but will they? Presumably there are 10 and 11 year olds out there being groomed trained for the next Olympics and these girls will be considered over the hill, or too physically damaged by then. What do you do with your life when you are done with your sport by the time you're 20 and you have done nothing else with your life?
It's not a sport I follow but I just had a quick look at the men's results in the same discipline from Tokyo and the youngest in the top 10 was 17. Most of the competitors seem to be adults in their 20s or older. Why the difference?
I coach a sport at grassroots level and I do believe that sport can be a great force for good in many young people's lives but it also has potential to be very destructive. This type of thing doesn't sit comfortably with me and I do think there should be a minimum age of at least 16, maybe 18 in all Olympic disciplines.

I am glad to see the trend for gymnasts is now strong confident women with much more longevity than the much younger girls we used to see-some prepubescent and achingly thin.

I have queasiness about children and this level of training. (This is not just an issue in other countries, there have been similar recent reports about British gymnastics.)

thecorrespondent.com/739/why-womens-gymnastics-is-legal-child-abuse

The 2 female chinese divers in the 10m platform that took gold and silver, were iirc defending champions and were 14 and 15 at the previous Olympics.

I have similar feelings about the very young girls competing (pre-teen) in some cases. Not just the pressure of performing their sport at the highest level in front of judges or massive crowds, but also the media attention, interviews, articles written etc. Skye Brown has had an Instagram account since she was 12 (or younger) .
I had also wondered what the living arrangements are at the olympic village for the very youngest athletes, presumably they are with a parent? (Although it's not compulsory to stay at the olympic village)

In answer to original question
Femke Bol
Simone Biles
Julien Alfred
Keely Hodgkinson

All good points. But for many sports and disciplines, if you don't train from a young age you're unlikely to ever get to Olympic standard.

Hopefully these girls are all well looked after, and have balanced and normal lives outwith their sporting lives.

But for many sports and disciplines, if you don't train from a young age you're unlikely to ever get to Olympic standard.
True, but there is a difference between training from a young age and actually being at the very top of your sport when you are still a child, in physical, psychological and social terms. Most of the other sports who have traditionally allowed children to participate at elite levels have moved away from that. There's a long way to go but there is a definite change in attitude towards the protection of young people in many sports. It is possible for things to change.
I don't think that we should be particularly celebrating children being pushed to this extent. And when I say children, it's largely girls isn't it? Off the top of my head, apart from Tom Daley I can't think of any other boys who have competed at the Olympics in their early teens but plenty of girls spring to mind. It all feels a bit exploitative to me rather than something to be celebrated. I'm watching the men's skateboarding right now and the age profile of the athletes is noticeably different to yesterday's women's event. If it was just that skateboarding is a sport that appeals disproportionately to teenagers surely we'd be seeing 14 year olds on the men's podium too but I haven't seen any young boys yet. I can't fully articulate why but the contrast between the men's and women's event makes me feel uncomfortable.

The British shooter who has a 3 month old baby, missed Tokyo because of Covid and had gold stolen from her. She was a good sport about it.

The 9th ranked Brazil women's football team beat the no. 1 team (Spain) last night. They'd lost to Spain last week in the group stage and were struggling with injuries and players out with red cards so it was an absolute shocker - but completely deserved.

Spain v Germany play for bronze on Friday at 2 PM and Brazil v USA duke it out Saturday at 4 PM for gold/silver. Both games should be really fun watches.

Oh well done to Brazil!

Although a lot of the divers are quite young Australia's Melissa Wu made the 10m final at 42 - her 5th Olympics.

Amber Rutter.

@MrsAvocet my guess as to why there are so many teenage girls in skateboarding is because it is a very young sport - there simply hasn’t been time for the girls who are competing now to grow up, as the boys/men have. Give it a few years and the age profile will likely be the same.

Just been thinking about the skater girls and I think the problem is that as the girls get older they get pushed or select themselves out. They just don't get the chance to develop like the boys do.

I think that’s the issue. It’s not about girls doing a sport to an amazing level. My concern is that if the peak of the sport is an Olympic medal, and the only way to get that medal is to have an exceptional female child, it’s only a matter of a few Olympics before an unscrupulous country has pushed a child beyond a love of the sport (which these girls clearly have) into an abusive regime with the sole aim of achieving that medal. Like gymnastics used to be (still is probably), ice skating etc.

The ice skater Valieva, a child, was celebrated for being physically capable of pulling off more rotations that were thought possible for a female. It turned out she was being doped by the adults around her. Skateboarding is scored on the rotations…

Far too many brilliant, inspirational women to name them all, but it is such a joy to see such a broad range of women competing in such a broad range of events.

From those who are refugees or facing war in their home country to those who have overcome serious injuries to make their dreams come true to those who show you can have children and still compete at the very highest level to those who show the many different sizes, shapes and aptitudes that you can have and still be a sports star.

The reluctance of the IOC for so long to give women an equal programme has finally lead us to this point. Now they need to protect the female category for females and not undermine the hard work of all the women and girls that fought to be allowed to do their thing be that the causal calmness of the Turkish shooter or the amazing bravery of those who perform gravity defying tricks, climbs and tumble. Whether they take gold or come in last each and every one of them is amazing and inspiring.

Olympian ladies take a bow. 🥇💪👏

Just listened to Bianca Cook speak so eloquently and knowledgeably about Jade Jones. Two amazing women and it's so wonderful to hear women supporting women.

Ellie Aldridge, gold in the kite boarding, a new event this year. It looked both terrifying and super fun.