Keeping Score

Olympic Politics Hurt Female Athletes


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Sue Ogrocki / AP













Some women's sports suffer at the Olympics because only a few countries are any good.  The idea (not always adhered to) is not to have sports that are a forgone conclusion.  In a few years, as more countries can field decent softball teams, there will be more chances.

I personally favor not limiting the number of sports, but capping the number of medals available.  Medal-heavy sports would have to compete hard to maintain their slots, while a sport like softball would only have to justify one medal.

This would cut down on the gold-hounding that the US does in swimming, and the Chinese do in diving and shooting.  People do actually watch swimming and diving, but not near enough to justify all the events awarding medals.


I dont even know why people still pay attention to the McCokalympics. 


While I enjoyed the article and found it insightful, I totally disagree with the headline... female athletes hurt.  Since women's wrestling was added as part of wrestling at the Olympics in 2004 it is widely growing, and not just at the Olympics either.  It is a fast growing sport among young women in college and high school.  More countries are being represented in women's wrestling now and in the future games than had been in softball, especially in the middle east, where women are breaking barriers in the sport (wrestling is a very popular sport in the middle east).  This may be due to the ease with which countries can participate.  You need little gear, a mat, and a lot of drive.  Softball requires much more... much more that some countries simply don't have.  So while I am sympathetic to softball's plight, I feel that women athletes gained a major victory in winning wrestling back.  In the future it may be the women that bring wrestling back to the spotlight at the Games.


@jtos15 you are right it is a good article. and the headline is designed to get clicks. I am fine with that. 


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