At the most gender equal Olympics, the good, the bad and the downright hideous
As the Paris 2024 Olympics come to a close, our weekly column, Mind The Gap, reflects on the unforgettable moments through a gender lens.
In the years to come, how will we remember Paris? The Games where for the first time as many women as men competed? Or the Games where an ugly gender row over a female boxer revealed the persistence of misogyny?
A Games where women owned the headlines and made history? Or a Games where inclusion did not include hijab for French athletes?
There was, for the first time, accommodation for childcare and breast-feeding—an acknowledgment that athletes can be pregnant—like archer Yaylagul Ramazanova from Azerbaijan and Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez—and still compete; that they can be mothers and still compete. On the day Elle St Pierre qualified in the 5,000m, she got her first period since the birth of her 17-month-old son. That didn’t stop her from clocking the fastest trial time by an American woman.
The colour of the first-ever medal, bronze, won by the Olympic Refugee team—a grim reminder that 117.3 million people have been forcibly displaced from home—didn’t matter. It was won by Cindy Ngamba who can never return to Cameroon because she is gay and homosexuality continues to be outlawed in the country of her birth. Breaker Manizha Talash wore a cape emblazoned with the words: Free Afghan Women. She was disqualified but the world received her message.
And, yes, let’s hear from the men. The camaraderie between silver medalist Neeraj Chopra who acknowledged that the day belonged to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who broke the Olympic record was a picture of grace, topped only by his mother, Saroj Devi who said Nadeem was like her son. Across the border, Nadeem’s mother Raziah Parveen echoed the sentiment. “They are not only friends but brothers,” she said.
Neeraj then went on to insist that hockey legend PR Sreejesh should be the joint flag bearer alongside shooter Manu Bhaker at the closing ceremony tonight.
Sheer grit
The shock disqualification of Vinesh Phogat at the brink of a final where she was assured a silver if not a gold shattered a billion hopes and led to a heartbroken Phogat, who has so far remained undaunted in the face of challenge, announcing her retirement. “I don’t have any more strength,” she tweeted.
Expectedly there were some truly execrable statements, including from the sports minister who chose to recount how much was spent on her training. Elsewhere athletes and MPs pinned the blame on her while the trolls were out in full force.
And yet, the overwhelming consensus in a country obsessed with winning and counting medals is that Phogat remains a winner. Abhinav Bindra, India’s first Olympic gold medallist, who has these Games emerged as an ambassador for decency, reminded Phogat, and us: “Not all victories look alike. Some end up as a glittering souvenir in a cabinet but the ones that matter more find their way into the stories we tell our children.”
Phogat is fighting to retain her silver. The Court of Arbitration for Sport has heard her appeal. At the time of writing, its verdict is awaited.
And still she persevered
If there was just one photograph to frame for your children and grandchildren, let it be this one.
It tells so many stories. Of magnanimity in defeat; of the power of the first-ever all-Black gymnastics Olympic podium; of friendship and solidarity.
Of perseverance. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade who took gold at the floor final is one of eight children brought up by a single mother too poor to afford the bus fare to the gym and so she and her brother walked the two-hour distance. And, yes, she’s recovering from three ACL injuries. Simone Biles at silver is now the most decorated gymnast in history, back after prioritising her mental health and becoming a powerful advocate for both women in sport and mental health. Jordan Chiles was ready to quit gymnastics but Biles told her to stick with it, inviting her to join her gym in Texas.
If you still need a reason to frame this photograph, then let it be this. It reminds you that underlying rivalry and competition and form and the stress of winning, sport is supposed to be just fun.
Small is beautiful
It took two women to put their small Caribbean nations on the map. The first was Julian Alfred who ran past American Sha’Carrie Richardson in the 100m to win a first-ever gold for St Lucia, population 183,000.
Watching her was Thea LaFond, a 30-year-old former teacher born in Dominica, population 72,000. “Dang it, she went and got gold,” she thought. “I have to do it now.” And so she did, a triple jump gold which is Dominica’s first ever medal in any colour.
LaFond was born on an island without a track. When she was five, her parents migrated to America but kept going back every summer. “I was never allowed to ever forget where I came from,” she says. The prize money is welcome, of course. She’s going to use it to build a track for the kids back home.
A rivalry masterclass
The American, Katie Ledecky is 27 and the greatest distance freestyler in the world with records in 800 and 1500m. The Australian, Ariarne Titmus is 23 with records in 200 and 400m.
Titmus says watching Ledecky win four golds at Rio in 2016 drew her to swimming. Then she snatched gold from Ledecky in the 400m at Tokyo 2021.
The two have been chasing each other ever since, setting new records and personal bests in a rivalry that led the 400m in Paris to be dubbed the “race of the century”. In the end the Australian beat the American, leaving her with bronze.
Revenge wasn’t far in coming. In the 800m Ledecky claimed gold, leaving Titmus with silver, despite a personal best. After her defeat, Titmus acknowledged her rival had “made me a better athlete, I totally respect what she has done in this sport, more than anyone else.”
Ledecky returned the compliment. “Thank you for making me better. I think we bring the best out of each other.”
The rivalry was back in evidence at the 4x200m freestyle relay where Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time with 13 Olympic medals but had to settle for silver as Australia took gold and set a new Olympic record.
Misogyny’s ugly head
Remember this because one day it will tell you how the most gender equal Olympics in 2024 could not scrub itself clean of misogyny.
What you see in the photograph is an athlete vindicated by her gold medal. What you don’t see is the outrage, the relentless bullying and the unbelievable stress under which Algerian boxer Imane Khelif finally won her gold.
Born a female, recorded as female in her passport and as someone who has lived her entire life female, Khelif still had to clarify after winning gold, “I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I lived a woman. I competed as a woman. There’s no doubt about that.”
The controversy began when Angela Carini, her Italian opponent quit her bout after 46 seconds saying Khelif’s punches hurt too much. Carini later apologised, but by then the debate had been overwhelmed by the contentious issue of transgender athletes participating in women’s sport. The problem: Khelif is not transgender or male. She has always competed as a female, and even lost in the quarter-finals in Tokyo as a woman.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association (IBA) that failed both Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting for unspecified gender eligibility testing has not provided evidence that the athletes have differences in sex development that could have given them an advantage. In 2023, the IOC barred the IBA for being too opaque and arbitrary, a decision that has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
So, who gets to decide who is female and who isn’t? Khelif might not conform to how the western world believes a woman should look, but she is a woman. The fact that she has to say it repeatedly will forever remain a blot on these Games.
The following article is an excerpt from this week's HT Mind the Gap. Subscribe here.