On your mark, get set...GO! Women in the Olympics.

SISTERS AROUND THE WORLD, September 2008, by Karen Demers

On your mark,
Get set... GO!
women in the olympics


Have you been glued to the TV this month watching the Summer Olympics in Beijing?! By the time you get this issue (some time in August), the Games of the 29th Olympiad have probably already begun!

Olympics BeijingDid you know that during the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, women were not allowed to participate?! It was not until the games held in Pairs in 1900 that women were allowed to compete. During these games, only 22 out of 997 athletes were female. The first female champion was Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain for tennis. While women continued to compete in the Olympics, it wasn’t until the last 30 years that big changes occurred for women in sports. During the 1970s, the number of women’s Olympic events began to increase. In the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, women competed in 26 out of 28 sports and represented almost half of the total number of athletes! It was during these Olympics that the first Afghan women athletes competed for their country.

We’ve come a long way in sports over the years, ladies, and we have so much to be proud of!

This summer, the 2008 summer Olympic Games are being held in Beijing, China. It is predicted that their women athletes will win more medals than the men. It has been the case in past Olympic Games, and Chinese women are said to be one of the strongest female teams in the world! Why? Some experts say that unlike most countries, the Chinese government funds 100% of its athletes costs which allows them to always be training for their next competition. Many people also believe that the rise of female athletes worldwide is a motivation for these women athletes to win.

Athletes are awesome role models! Talk about dedication, perseverance and keeping your eye on the goal. Why not let the success and determination of athletes around the world help motivate YOU in your life?!


HISTORICAL OLYMPIC FACTS

  • In Ancient Olympics the penalty for a false start was a whipping!
  • The Olympics symbol is of five interconnected rings in five difference colours - blue, yellow, black, green, red. Atleast one of these colours appears in every country's flag. The rings are meant to symbolize the union of countries and athletes.
  • There were no women members of the International Olympic Committee from 1896 until 1981!
  • The first Ancient Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCA.
  • Women were originally the PRIZES in mens Ancient Olympic chariot races.
  • Pomegrantes, symbols of fertility, were other prizes at the womens games, along with olive wreaths and a slice of a sacrificial cow.


~Karen

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