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Women at the Olympics

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Olympic recognition is an important issue for women's sport like netball, women's cycling, field hockey and lawn bowls. Sports that have been historically popular with women often are not included in the Olympics or are only recent additions to the games. The lack of women's sport appearing in the games often means less media attention, funding and fewer opportunities for sponsorship. The Olympics made it harder to get new sports included in Olympic programme.

Olympic recognition

Netball is an amazing sport and it was very sad for us for it not to be in the Olympic Games so it would be amazing if we could get it in next time round. It would be brilliant for the girls coming through to get that opportunity to play at the Olympics because it is the sporting pinnacle if you can achieve that goal.

Tamsin Greenway, England wing attack[1]

Throughout the history of the Olympics, sports popular exclusively with women or that have been very popular with women have been excluded.[2] The situation extends beyond the popular women's sport of netball to women's cycling, which was excluded for many years despite having world championships for women being organised by 1958.[2] It extends to field hockey, a sport included for men as early as 1908 but not competed by women until 1980.[2] Lawn bowls is a popular women's sport that has been included in the Commonwealth Games for many years but has not made the Olympic program.[2] While primarily a sport for women, netball allows for mixed gendered teams,[3][4] but the Olympics do not allow mixed gendered team sports.[2][note 1]

The issues facing netball are part of a larger problem involving female participation in the Olympics.[2] At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, there were 159 sports for men to compete in, but only 86 sports for women, and 12 sports for both men and women.[6] At the 2000 Summer Olympics, there were still sports that women were excluded from participating in, such as boxing, wrestling and baseball. The issue of male over-representation in terms of total number of sports and athletes is structural. In the United Kingdom, for example, more male athletes than female athletes received financial support. Sports officials rationalised this uneven distribution of funding by claiming that there are more opportunities for men to win on the highest level than there are comparable opportunities for women.[6] The importance of netball being included as a competition sport in the Summer Olympics has been compared to softball, and the benefits that the sport derived from Olympic inclusion.[7] This included additional media attention and television coverage, especially during Olympic years.[7] Olympic recognition plays an important part in getting sponsorship for local competitions around the world.[8] It also plays an important role in providing recognition to and opportunities for female that may not be available otherwise.[8]


Gaining recognition

While netball may be the most popular women's participation sport in many Commonwealth countries like Tanzania, the effort to increase media attention and participation for women's sport often goes to Olympic sports with low participation rates, low rates of interest and few facilities.[9][10] The historic lack of Olympic recognition and lack inclusion of the sport in the Olympics had led to less media coverage for the sport, because most coverage of women's sport takes place at major championships that take place alongside men's events.[11]

Getting to the games

The IOC held an Extraordinary Session in Mexico City in November 2002.[12] A decision was made to slow the process of adding new events to future Olympic games. They decided to limit the number of sports to 28, number of events to 301 and number of athletes to 10,500.[12] At the November 2002 Extraordinary Session, the IOC created a table listing the requirements that a sport must meet before it is eligible for inclusion in the Olympic programme.[5] This table is provided below[5]:

Name Example Conditions to be met for inclusion in the Olympic Games[5]
Federation e.g. Fédération Internationale de Natation Administer one or several sports at world level and encompass organisations administering such sports at national level (national federations)[5]
Have statutes, practice and activities in conformity with the Olympic Charter[5]
Have adopted and implemented the World Anti-Doping Code[5]
Sport e.g. aquatics For the Games of the Olympiad: be widely practised by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents[5]
For the Winter Games: be widely practised in at least 20 countries on three continents[5]
Have adopted and implemented the World Anti-Doping Code[5]
Be admitted to the programme seven years before the Olympic Games[5]
Discipline e.g. diving Have a recognised international standing[5]
For the Games of the Olympiad: be widely practised by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents[5]
For the Winter Games: be widely practised in at least 25 countries on three continents[5]
Be admitted to the programme seven years before the Olympic Games[5]
Event e.g. individual springboard Have a recognised international standing both numerically and geographically, and have been included at least twice in world or continental championships[5]
Be practised by men in at least 50 countries and on three continents and by women in at least 35 countries and on three continents[5]
Be admitted three years before the Olympic Games[5]

Funding

The lack of Olympic recognition hampered the globalisation of the game in developing countries,[13] because the Olympic Solidarity Movement provides access to funding for these nations through the International Olympic Committee.[13] In some countries such as Tanzania, the lack of access to Olympic funding cut off other funding options such funding by British Council.[9] With official recognition, funding from the IOC, the Olympic Solidarity Movement and the British Council became available to cover costs for travel to international competitions.[13] For some nations, without that assistance, trying to maintain international calibre teams was difficult.[13] Olympic recognition brought money for development into the sport.[14] In 2004, IFNA received a grant of US$10,000 from the IOC for development.[14] IFNA was given an additional US$3,300 a year until 2007 by the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports (ARISF).[14]

Beyond access to funds from the International Olympic Committee, Olympic recognition is often a requirement for getting funding from state and national sporting bodies, and state and federal governments. This has been the case in Australia,[15] and British Columbia, Canada.[16] In 1985, the Australian Sports Commission and the Office of the Status of Women identified five criteria for obtaining federal funding.[15] One of these was: "status as an Olympic sport and its size by registrations."[15][note 2] In British Columbia, one of the guidelines says that in order to receive funding, "The sport must be on the program for either the 2011 or 2013 Canada Games and/or the next scheduled recognized International Multi-Sport Games (Olympics/Paralympics, Pan American or Commonwealth Games, Special Olympic World Games);"[16]


Media coverage

Historically, coverage and inclusion of women's team sports in the Olympics has been limited.[10] Instead, the media focuses on female athletes in non-team competitions and on team sports played equally by both genders.[10] The selection of women's teams sport in the Olympics may not match with interest levels in a country.[10] In Australia for example, 245,300 total women and girls play basketball, hockey, soccer, softball and volleyball.[10] This compares to 319,500 women and girls who play netball.[10]


Notes

  1. ^ While team mixed gendered sports are not competed at the Olympics, some mixed gendered events are included. They include equestrian sports, shooting and sailing where men and women compete against each other. In shooting and sailing, women were originally only allowed to competed in mixed gendered events. Single gender events for these sports were not added until a later date.[5]
  2. ^ Netball qualified for funding because it met the other criteria. From 1980 to 1984, the sport received A$497,000 in funding.

References

  1. ^ Jordan 2011
  2. ^ a b c d e f Dyer 1982, p. 205
  3. ^ Symons & Hemphill 2006, p. 122
  4. ^ Samoa Observer 2011
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r International Olympic Committee 2008, p. 5
  6. ^ a b Pfister & Hartmann-Tews 2002, p. 274
  7. ^ a b Taylor 2001a, p. 15
  8. ^ a b First National Bank 2010
  9. ^ a b Massoa & Fasting 2002, p. 120
  10. ^ a b c d e f Jones 2004, p. 143
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Taylor-67 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b International Olympic Committee 2008, p. 1
  13. ^ a b c d Crocombe 1992, p. 156
  14. ^ a b c Shooting for Success 2004, p. 1
  15. ^ a b c Australian Sport Commission & Office of the Status of Women 1985, p. 92
  16. ^ a b Community, Sport and Cultural Development - Province of British Columbia 2010, p. 5

Bibliography

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  • Community, Sport and Cultural Development - Province of British Columbia (2011). "BC ATHLETE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 2010 - 2011 Provincial Sport Organization Guidelines, Policies and Procedures" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Crocombe, R G (2007). Asia in the Pacific Islands : replacing the West. CIPS Publications, University of the South Pacific. ISBN 9820203880. OCLC 213886360. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Dominica Olympic Committee (2010). "History". Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Dyer, K F (1982). Challenging the Men, The social biology of female sporting achievement. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0702216526. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • First National Bank (2010). "School Sport LOCAL SPORT INITIATIVES". Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • International Federation of Netball Associations. "About IFNA". Retrieved 7 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • International Olympic Committee (2007). "IOC 2007 WOMEN & SPORT TROPHY WINNERS" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • International Olympic Committee (2008). "The sports on the Olympic programme". Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Jordan, David (2011). "Greenway calls for netball's Olympic inclusion". Sportsbeat & News Associates. Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Jones, Diane (2004). "Half the Story? Olympic Women on the ABC News Online" (PDF). Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy (110): 132–146. Retrieved 15 March 2011. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Ministry of Education & Culture (1970). Annual report - Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Ministry of Education and Culture. Ministry of Education & Culture. OCLC 1793427. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Massoa, Prisca; Fasting, Kari (2002). "Women and sport in Tanzania". In Pfister, Gertrud; Hartmann-Tews, Ilse (eds.). Sport and Women: Social Issues in International Perspective. International Society for Comparative Physical Education & Sport. Routledge. ISBN 0415246288. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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  • Netball New Zealand (2009). "History". Retrieved 25 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Alison Megarrity (2004). http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20040921018. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Parliament of New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. col. 11179–11179. {{cite book}}: |chapter-url= missing title (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Pfister, Gertrud; Hartmann-Tews, Ilse (2002). "Women's inclusion in sport, International and comparative findings". In Pfister, Gertrud; Hartmann-Tews, Ilse (eds.). Sport and Women: Social Issues in International Perspective. International Society for Comparative Physical Education & Sport. Routledge. pp. 267–280. ISBN 0415246288. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Samoa Observer (2008). "Samoa prepares for World netball series". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 1 March 2011. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Shooting for Success (2004). "IFNA Recognition Confirmed" (PDF). International Federation of Netball Associations. Retrieved 24 March 2011. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Singapore National Olympic Council (2011). "National Sport Associations". Retrieved 26 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Smartt, Pam; Chalmers, David (2009). "Obstructing the goal? Hospitalisation for netball injury in New Zealand 2000–2005". The New Zealand Medical Journal. 122 (1288). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Text "urlhttp://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/122-1288/3438/" ignored (help)
  • Symons, Carol; Hemphill, Dennis (2006). "Netball and transgender participation". In Caudwell, Jayne (ed.). Sport, sexualities and queer/theory. Routledge Critical Studies in Sport. Routledge. pp. 122–124. ISBN 0415367611. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Taylor, Tracy (2001). "Gendering Sport: The Development of Netball in Australia" (PDF). Sporting Traditions, Journal of the Australian Society for Sports History. 18 (1): 57–74. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  • Taylor, Tracy (2001a). "Netball in Australia: A Social History" (PDF). Working Paper Series (2). School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism, UTS: 1–22. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

See also


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