Women in the Olympics

So what does it take to be a woman Olympiad? Physical and mental strength, the ability to achieve, motivation and ambition and …good looks?

Really? Since when has the Olympics been a forum to gawk at half naked women? When watching the Olympics I was shocked at the amount of focus there was on how athletes were judged on their physical appearance, it’s insane. These women are at the peak of fitness in a competition that defines the world’s best athletes, pushed to their ultimate abilities and now women have to worry about how they on top of it?

Women are always seen as objects to be looked at and admired – fine. But why should this cross into a realm where the focus is on sporting ability and not beauty. Women should not feel that they need to look good when they’re trying to win gold medals, it’s just an extra unnecessary pressure. Take for example the gymnastics. The women gymnasts have a noticeable amount of make up on, and their hair styled to perfection. The men don’t. So how does wearing make up make it more likely that you’re going to win a medal, the men seem to be able to without it?

I have no problem with women wanting to feel better about themselves, but in my opinion when it’s in the competitive realm of the Olympics a focus on looks is irrelevant, and unfortunately it takes away from the tremendous efforts of the athletes. Audiences sit judging who is prettier rather than who can run faster. It is outrageous.

It even crosses the boundaries of sporting outfits. Women athletics participants can be seen running is what can only be described as underwear. If having your stomach out helped you to run faster, surely men wouldn’t wear shirts? So why is it that it has become the norm for women to run in shorter shorts and a sports bra whereas men wear longer shorts with a top that covers there stomach? And no I’m not an expert on the subject and I would find it interesting if there was a reason for why this is, but I see it as another objectification of women.

I know this may seem outdated (the Olympics were two months ago) but the message is still resonant. As soon as the Olympics had finished, British women athletes could be seen in the pages of glossy magazines with the article message being “they can look beautiful too”. Really, it is just me that this angers? Whatever! Why do they need to be judged on their beauty AT ALL? They’re Olympians! They’re the fittest, strongest and arguably the most amazing sporting women in Britain, but no that doesn’t matter because “they can look beautiful too”. Look at the bigger picture, beauty is not the only thing that matters, these women won medals because of their physical greatness not good looks.

It was only four years ago that Jessica Ennis was criticised in by the British tabloids for being ‘fat’. Seriously? How can a triathlon winner be anywhere near fat? How is that kind of judgement supporting your country? Why should it even matter if she was? It’s disgusting. All this shows is that the British public care more about how our women athletes look than their ability to win, and if this isn’t a deterrent enough for aspiring female sports stars I don’t know what is. Beauty should not be a requirement of sport.

Now a celebration of beauty is fine, although I do disagree with the added societal pressures put on women because of it, that is indeed another rant. My point here is that Olympians don’t need the extra stress of beauty on their minds when they’re competing in a world competition, they only need to be thinking about their task at hand. Women do not need to objectified any more and it’s problem that is nestled so far in our minds that it has even tainted the greatest sporting competition on the planet.