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| Just amazing: standing ovation for Attar as she crossed the line |
A record 44% of all competitors at London 2012 were women. With the inclusion of women's boxing (what fun to have dropped Coubertin into the ring to slug it out with one of them), every sport now has woman competitors. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei sent women athletes for the first time, meaning that every participating country has now sent women athletes. I know that for me one of the most touching moments was the standing ovation for Saudi athlete Sarah Attar as she crossed the finish line in the 800m race in her headscarf. There is no question that there has been an absolute sea change in women's participation.
Paralympics
We are five days away from the opening of the Paralympics. The level of interest being expressed is huge. I know I'm basically a soft-toy in a human body, but I found it incredibly warming to see the amount of people on my Twitter feed genuinely shouting out "But this isn't the end of the Games" at the main Olympic closing ceremony. Although there were forerunners, the Paralympics only started in their present form in Seoul in 1988 (that is, same host city, same facilities, held straight after the main Olympics). The name apparently comes from Greek para = "along side" and not as many think, from paraplegic. They have come from no where to be, to many, more inspiring than the Olympics themselves. Within the Paralympics themselves, a record number of women will also be competing this time (double the number that took part in Barcelona twenty years ago).
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| "Benefit Scroungers" |
Pallid Weedy Vegetarians
So far, so good. My god, even fellow vegetarians are represented in this splendid display of diversity and inclusiveness. Lizzie Armitstead won the very first medal for Team GB with a silver in the cycling. She commented:
"One of the most common misconceptions I’ve come across is that vegetarians are pallid, gentle creatures who would recoil in a tough sporting arena. Despite the fact I was breaking school records on the track, people still questioned my diet’s ability to make me strong.”
Take solace, Lizzie: American Olympian Carl Lewis is a vegan and picked up 9 Gold medals during his Olympic career. He actually credits his success to his diet.
Where are the Gays?
So, where are the gays in all this? Of the 10,960 participants in the 2012 London Olympics, the Pink News gave the grand total of fourteen (0.12%) as being openly gay. That is two men and twelve women. The Telegraph (link below) gave the number as twenty one (three men and eighteen women), which is 0.19%. Jokes about the Team GB diving team having crashed the hook-up app Grindr aside, this is pretty mind-boggling. There are 6098 young male athletes there... and three are openly gay? If we're going on one in twenty figure of the general population you'd expect over 300. Instead we have Matthew Mitcham, Carl Hester (Team GB, Gold Medalist) and the Dutch equestrian, Edward Gal. Representation by gay women is clearly better, but still pitifully low.
I wonder how many readers of this blog are aware of the existence of the Gay Games? They started life as the "Gay Olympics" in San Francisco. Tina Turner sang at the opening ceremony. Three weeks before they were due to start, the International Olympic Committee sued the organisers to stop them using the name. The defendants pointed out that there had been no objection to the Nebraska Rat Olympics or the Police Olympics, but lost their case.
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| I wish it were a joke. Object to sporting gays, but not to rats. |
The Gay Games continue. These are not small events. There were 9500 participants at the Cologne Gay Games in 2010 (over double the number competing in the Paralympics, and not far short of the 10,960 in the Olympics). They came from over 70 countries. The participants in the next Gay Games in Cleveland in 2014 will not, however, be using the same stadium that the Olympians and Paralympians will - nor will they be competing in the same year, nor will the main stream media be covering the event in any way the same manner.
You might question why there is a need for a Gay Games in 2014. I do too. I wish that we had moved on since the times of the 80s were gays were seen as "sissies" and incapable of competing alongside straight people. It's shameful that the eloquent defence of their existence (click for link) has to be put by former soccer star Derek Liecty in the way that he does. Look at the stats that I have given on "open" participation in the 2012 Olympics, however, and you understand why there is still a need to provide a safe and inclusive space for non-straight athletes to compete.
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| Go Mitcham, Go TeamOz |
Much has been commented on homophobia in soccer in this country. Less comment has been made on the far wider picture, which is of an environment desperately lagging behind the main stream. The likes of Matthew Mitcham provide an amazing role model to younger gay people, athletes or not. The Telegraph recently ran an excellent piece on this issue. Its most depressing finding was that gay athletes are routinely dropped by sponsors and this is why most remain in the closet. Nonetheless the fact that the Telegraph ran this piece left me a bit stunned. This from a paper to that still routinely calls us homosexuals, and didn't drop the inverted commas around "gay" that long ago.
We are really getting there on women's participation. All races and religions are represented at the Olympics. Team Veggie is proving us proud. We have the Paralympics to look forward to shortly. We will get there on Gay Olympians I am sure, but how crap I've even had to write this piece, frankly.
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