Women are not just window dressing for the Olympics

Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins of Great Britain celebrate with their gold medals for the Women's Double Sculls final on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games, August 3, 2012. (Getty Images)

This year’s Olympics have the potential to be the best ever for women’s sport, with more female competitors, more events and more medals up for grabs than ever before.  British women have been doing amazingly well, with two gold medals already for women in the rowing.  However, looking at some of the media coverage, you’d be forgiven for thinking that women are only competing in one sport – Beach Volleyball.  The debate around the Olympics has descended in some quarters as to whether Prince Harry has been ogling girls in bikinis or not this fortnight.  Accompanied by the requisite pictures, of course.

For the team, the issue of costume has defined the way their sport has been reported over the years.  Team GB Olympic hopefuls Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney have both complained about the fact that the sport is overshadowed by an obsession with what they are wearing and said their family and friends hated the fact that they were recognised only for wearing bikinis. ‘They find it really upsetting,’ Mullin said. ‘They say to me, “How can they still be talking about your bikinis? Don’t they understand how hard you work?”.

And it’s not just beach volleyball, Olympic silver medallist Gail Emms recently said she wanted to transform the profile of sportswomen, so they’re not obliged to wear skimpy outfits to make a living.  Gail calls the experience of dealing with sponsors horrible: “I had sponsors telling me to wear fake tan and a tight kit. But you can’t be like, ‘No, I don’t believe in that’ when you have a mortgage to pay.  I know I got those sponsors because I was blond. But I had to play their game if I wanted to make a living.”

Based on the media coverage, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the public see women’s sport as merely the window dressing of the Olympics, but research shows that’s not the case.  The WSFF’s stats show that 54% of people believe women’s sport is just as exciting as men’s, and 61% would watch more of it if it were televised – and not for the bikinis.  Considering that women’s sport currently only receives five per cent of sports coverage in this country, increasing it would not be difficult.

And there is a really important reason for celebrating women’s sporting achievements, rather than how well they fill out their kit.  The obsession with women’s appearance has a detrimental effect on girl’s attitudes to sport. In a culture where being thin is prized over being fit, our own research showed that half of girls surveyed think that getting sweaty is “not feminine” and many agree that there aren’t many sporting role models for girls. This has resulted in a society where inactivity is the norm – just one in ten young girls are currently doing the recommended daily amount of exercise.

The 2012 Olympics is a perfect opportunity for the media to celebrate women for their sporting achievements. Our first silver and gold medals were won by women, and some even think that Team GB women could win more medals than the boys for the first time ever. We are asking people to get behind our campaign Go Girl to celebrate the success of Team GB women at the Olympics and to show girls that being active, and not just looking attractive is something to be proud of.

Sue Tibballs is Chief Executive of Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation

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• http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Fisher/100000181565257 Paul Fisher

  I think the sponser ought to just worry about getting their company name noticed, if the athlete is good they should’nt worry, but they are gonna get screen time anyhow.

  I can’t help but feel beach volley was mainly added to draw a wider audience, i can’t understand why someone with strong views about voyerism would take it up instead of regular volleyball ?? There are actually rules that the kit must reveal a certain amount i believe.

  But as for the headline, i think it’s a really pessimistic angle, it’s been great so far, great success in womens rowing, vicky pendleton storming to victory – absolutly bloody awsome!, and hav’nt detected this supposed sexism in the media coverage.

• http://twitter.com/126_alan AlanS

  No I haven’t detected the sexism either, but hacks never let the facts stand in the way of a good story.

• yeleni

  I’ve enjoyed the Olympics because you get to see so many different sports that never normally get a look in. If you look at the tv schedules you’d be forgiven for thinking the only sport in the uk is men’s football.

• Razas

  It’s the national sport and most watched

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000739854663 Cathy White

  I wish football wasn’t our main sport, as the whole tacky culture that goes with it is a joke. Such as Beckham turned the world cup into a joke because his wife was using it as an opportunity to have world cup parties, to get in magazines, then he was too tired to last on the pitch. Now he’s back from LA after nobody took any notice of them despite sucking up to Tom Cruise, and is now sucking up to prince william and helping with the olympics, as thinks he’ll get a knighthood, so they can sell rubbish and make money from that. Even Torvill and Dean weren’t knighted and they won something. I wish we could concentrate on real sports people.

• Razas

  Beckham has won 6 Premier league titles, 1 La Liga, the FA cup twice, a EUFA Champions League, is England’s most capped outfield player with 115 appearances, and was twice runner up FIFA world player of the year – not bad for somebody who has won nothing.
  With a fortune of over £100M I doubt he needs to do any sucking up.
  Your post reads like a poorly thought out jealous rant.

• http://www.facebook.com/giles.toman Giles Toman

  Just out of interest, is there a men’s beach volleyball tournament in the Olympics? If so, it must be the most under-reported event in the Games! Or is beach volleyball only played by fit girls in bikinis?

• http://twitter.com/martinSWH1 Martin

  How about a unisex Olympics ? I wonder how many females there would be then ? A handful of showjumpers and beach volleyballers.
  In reality women’s sport is second division and always will be, except during wars when there are few men

• Guest

  You listen to too much celebrity gossip. Perhaps that’s your problem.

• Guest

  Have you ever thought about starting a men’s beach volleyball team to enter the Olympics yourself, Giles?