LONDON: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is hoping the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will set a new record for the participation of female athletes, beating the last Games where 44 percent of the competitors were women.
With two days to go to the opening ceremony, here are some facts about the path toward gender equality at the Olympics, which will bring together about 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries:
- The ancient Greek Olympics were male-only Games. Women were barred from competing and only unmarried women could watch the events but thanks to a loophole, Greek women could win prizes as owners of race horses with male riders.
- The first-ever female Olympic winner was Kyniska, daughter of King Archidamos of Sparta, whose chariot won the four-horse chariot race at the 96th Olympiads in 396 B.C.
- When the Olympics were resurrected in the 19th century, women were again initially banned. No female athletes took part in the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
- The founding father of modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, opposed female participation reportedly on the grounds that it was “impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect.”
- Women first appeared at the 1900 Games in Paris, when 22 of 997 entries were female athletes who competed in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf.
- At the 1900 Games, Countess Hélène de Pourtalès, of Switzerland, became the first-ever female gold medalist as part of a mixed-gender sailing crew. Days later British tennis player Charlotte Cooper became the first woman to win a singles event.
- In 1991 the IOC decided all new sports wishing to be included on the program must feature both men’s and women’s events.
- The 2012 Games were the first where women competed in every single sport on offer. However men could not compete in synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastic and are still barred from doing so in Rio.
- The 2012 London Olympics were the first in which every participating nation fielded at least one female athlete, as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei which had previously failed to do so, bowed to pressure from the IOC.
- Saudi Arabia is doubling its women’s team in 2016, fielding two runners, a fencer and a judoka. Qatar and Brunei are fielding a woman each.
- Some sports offering events for both sexes remain biased. Women can compete only in freestyle wrestling, not Greco-Roman. Boxing has only three weight classes for women versus 10 for men.
- Rugby sevens will debut in Rio as a new sport, marking the first time that women play the game at the Olympics.
- The United States will be represented in Brazil by the largest women’s team ever fielded by any nation, made of 292 athletes.
- While the IOC has been promoting gender equality in sport, the number of women holding leadership roles in governing bodies remains low. Only 25 out of the IOC’s 126 members and honorary members are women.
- Ukrainian gymnast Larisa Latynina is the most successful female Olympian to date, having won nine golds, five silvers and four bronzes for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964.
Will the Rio Olympics set a new world record for women athletes?
Will the Rio Olympics set a new world record for women athletes?
Guardiola hails Man City’s ‘massive’ win over Newcastle
- Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Pep Guardiola labelled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday as a “massive” moment in the Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s second-placed side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal, who travel to Tottenham for the north London derby on Sunday.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat.
“Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
“It’s coming in best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign.
They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
“70 percent of the players have never been in that situation, and I don’t play. So we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
“Especially at home, with five home games left. Today was the best crowd of the year, it was unbelievable with our people, really proud to be manager of these incredible people and fans.
“Of course in terms of points it’s important, but we have to improve to have chance to compete until the end. Now we deserve three more days off. Then another battle in Leeds.”
Guardiola singled out O’Reilly for praise after the young England midfielder’s pair of clinical finishes showed he won’t be affected by the strain of chasing Arsenal.
“Nico give us in the middle that physicality that we need. He now plays in his position,” he said.
“He has always played that, he is so complete and so young. I am really pleased the academy produced these incredible players, Nico, Phil (Foden), Rico (Lewis).”
