OPINION
It seems this is the year for female athletes to not only speak out but push back against the way things have always been done. As Simone Biles has famously demonstrated at the Tokyo Olympic Games, sometimes pushing back on the demands expected from you is the best way to make a stand.
Biles has been dominating the headlines for good reasons. Her from some of her Olympic gymnastics events to take care of her mental health brought the importance of looking after one’s mental wellbeing into the headlines. (Though in true legend fashion, she shook of the in the beam last night). Her stand, of the French Open and Wimbledon highlighted how for Black athletes there was the of public scrutiny combined with racism that could gravely impact mental health.
Aside from competing, Biles had another reason to go to the Olympics. She did it because if she wasn’t there, no one would be representing the survivors who faced abuse at the hands of the USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. He was to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing hundreds of girls under his watch.
As Biles told the American TV network : “I had to come back to the sport to be a voice, to have change happen. Because I feel like if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, they would’ve just brushed it to the side.”
It's the first Olympic Games to take place , and it hasn’t just been Biles who has been speaking out (or pushing back and standing up for herself, as the case may be). This year the German gymnastics team competed in unitards rather than the conventional leotard that most female gymnasts wear because they were tired of the .
One of the German gymnasts Sarah Voss, told a German network: “As a little girl I didn't see the tight gym outfits as such a big deal. But when puberty began, when my period came, I began feeling increasingly uncomfortable."
As she wrote in an Instagram post about the unitard: "Feeling comfortable and still looking elegant, why not?"
Their decision to wear a unitard came after the incurred a fine last month for deciding to wear shorts instead of the bikini bottoms approved for their sport.
The popstar Pink even tweeted her support for the handball team and said she would pay the fine for the women. “Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up,” she wrote.
A whole host of athletes have been inspired to use the Olympics as a platform to make a stand. After winning a silver medal in the shot put on Sunday, Raven Saunders made the of the Tokyo Olympic Games by forming an “X” with her wrists as she held her arms above her head as the medallists stood for photos. She later said this was to represent “the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet”.
Saunders also spoke about the importance of mental health. “It's okay to be strong. And it's okay to not be strong 100% of the time. It's okay to be able to need people,” she said.
Like with #MeToo, it took a number of prominent women to come out and speak about their experiences for a whole movement to start. Despite the many advances women have made in sport, these athletes have shown that there are still aspects within their sport that need to be changed. What better platform than that of the Olympics, with its global audiences, to make a stand?
Lauren Smith, a professor of sports media at Indiana University who specialises in gender :
“Once the Olympics are over, we’re not going to hear about [women’s] sports like surfing, swimming, diving. They’re not prominently visible like men’s sports are.” For these competitors, the Olympics represents a “huge opening.”
Many female athletes recognise this and are hoping that by making a stand at one of the most watched sporting events, they will be able to make lasting change for not only their sport but the many young female athletes down the line.
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