August 2, 2024 • 39 mins
Now that the 2024 Olympics in Paris are underway, we dig into some highs and lows, controversies and triumphs, and discuss what is to come.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
I never told you, precture, I heard.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You, and it's that time again, Olympics time. I felt
like I was doing a chair And honestly, we can't
wait to hear from our different contributors about what is happening.
(00:29):
So I feel like this is a call out, yo, yo,
send us your information, send us your thoughts, send us
your commentary, because we love it. But we decided that
we wanted to go down a couple of different routes
for this episode on what is happening as it has
just started. I know a lot of few games, but
there's a lot of things happening constantly, changing wins and
(00:51):
controversies and so much. But before we start with what's
happening with the current twenty twenty four Olympics, we wanted
to talk a little bit about some of the historical things,
specifically with the IOC or International Olympic Committee, So we
wanted to start with, of course, the women of the IOC.
We kind of talked about how they were so delayed
(01:13):
and behind and allowing for women to be a part
of the Olympics in general, just to compete and how
women had to do their own thing, and they were
like the IOC was super mad, you know. The French
too was like, no, women shouldn't be here, and now
we're in Paris anyway, So we wanted to talk about
the actual IOC in itself and how the leadership was
(01:34):
very slow when it came to allowing the women to
be a part of the organization itself. So not only
were they slow about allowing women to be a part
of it, and I think it took it till twenty
twelve for it to have an actual, like equal representation
of women in the competitions, not necessarily the competitors, but
the competition and games itself. So here's question number one,
(01:58):
When did the IOC allow women to be a part
of the leadership? Again, I think we talked about this
on our feminists around the world just recently. But the
IOC was founded in eighteen ninety four and they governed
the National Olympic Committees, which there is a total of
like two hundred and six, which are kind of take
care of their own country and who they bring in
(02:19):
to the competitions. So it wasn't until nineteen eighty one
that the IOC finally allowed two women to become official
members of the IOC, and they were former Olympians. I'm
so sorry if I butchered these names. Y'all know, when
it comes to the international names and episodes, sometimes it's
really hard for us to find that information. So if
you know these names and we're saying it wrong, just
(02:42):
let us know. But Hearjo Hogman from Finland and Flora
Isava Fnesca from Venezuela and Finesco was the first to
serve on the executive board, which happened in nineteen ninety Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And if you listen to our earlier episode of Feminists
around the World, which by the way, this is coming
out August second, twenty twenty four, things.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Are changing very quickly, very rapidly.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know. We already talked about the first woman to
be appointed as the vice president, and she has accomplished
quite a lot for so many hears a bit from
Wikipedia about her quote. In nineteen ninety two, De France
began chairing the prototype of the IOC Commission on Women
in Sport. Defrance not only worked towards promoting gender equality
(03:29):
and sports, but she also wanted to move toward gender
equality in the IOC so women could be equally represented.
She believed that without equal representation in the IOC that
women's voices would not get an equal chance to be heard.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So the Commission, which has since been renamed Gender Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion Commission, is running strong. According to Olympics
dot Com. Here is how they define the role of
the Commission. The Commission advises the IOC Session, the IOC
Executive Board, and the IOC President on the implementation of
the Gender Equality and Inclusion Strategy to enable them to
(04:07):
make informed and balanced decisions to advance gender equality in
sport on and off the field of play across the
three spheres of responsibility of the IOC, which is the
IOC as an organization, the IOC as owner of the
Olympic Games, the IOC as leader of the Olympic Movement,
and just fyi. According to their website, they still have
difference as an honorary member. Also, we're not talking about
(04:32):
the money that is made within the IOC, but we
know it's in the billions just fyi anyway, and there
hasn't been much conversation about what is how it's distributed
and whether or not there's corruption. I think there was
a dude that was just like, we're not saying that's corrupt,
but we're saying there's really no accountability about what is
(04:53):
happening with the money, So just let that linger there. So,
with the help of a Vice President, Defrance and her
new Commissi, the IOC created a new policy that required
that women would make up twenty percent of the participants,
which seems like a low amount, but they actually failed
(05:13):
to do this in two thousand and five, which was
the goal date, and would not be met even in
twenty twelve. So seven years later still hadn't been met.
Y'all twenty twelve. My gosh, I was out of college
by this point. I'm old. But as of this Olympics,
forty one percent of the IOC membership is held by women,
and fourteen of the thirty three commissions are led by women,
and at least thirty three percent of women are on
(05:35):
the Executive Board, so you know, the numbers are rising. However,
I think it's important to note that there has yet
to be a woman to be appointed as the President
of the IOC, So VP is as high as women
have gotten.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, so have these policies, commissions and efforts worked. According
to the new releases for this year's games, Yes, the
IOC set a goal of making the participants of fifty
to fifty split in registered competitors, but they didn't quite.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Hit the marks.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Here are some statistics for this year. According to an
ap news dot com article quote one week before the
opening ceremony, the official IOC database for the Paris Olympics
showed eleven thousand, two hundred and fifteen athletes including backups,
registered to compete. Five thousand, seven hundred and twelve and
men's events and five thousand, five hundred and three in
(06:33):
women's events are of fifty one to forty nine percent split.
In track and field, which has qualifying standards the athletes
must reach, there were fifty more registered for the men's
events than women's one thousand and ninety one to one
thousand and forty one. And swimming, the difference was four
hundred and sixty four to three hundred ninety three. In soccer,
(06:56):
with sixteen teams in the men's tournament and just twelve
in the women, the athlete tally was three hundred and
fifty one to two hundred and sixty four. The wrestling
entry has one hundred and ninety three men and ninety
six women with a men only category in Greco Roman.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And according to that same report, it shows that the
US has the highest number of women competing, with three
hundred and thirty eight women out of six hundred and
thirty eight delegates, making it a fifty three percentage of women.
But with that, it's also noted that one of the
reasons include that the men's field hockey team did not
qualify for those games while the women's did so. Just
put that in the back of your head. But there
(07:33):
are other countries that have more women percentage wise. Here's
another quote from the AP News article. Guam, a US
island territory east of the Philippines, led the way with
eighty seven point five percent women seven in this team
of eight athletes. According to the IOC database, Guam's seven
women are in six different sports. Nicaragua is set to
(07:54):
arrive with eighty six percent women six of its seven athletes,
in Sierra Leone with eighty percent and by the way,
currently there are only two athletes who identify as non
binary and transgender among the athletes, Nikki Hilts from the
US and Quinn from the Canadian soccer team.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Which all Listener wrote in about Yes Listener wrote in
be Quinn However, with the number of players becoming more
equal and diverse, there are still some issues with that.
There are several countries that have not progressed as well.
Here's some more information from that AP news article.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Six of the two hundred and five official Olympic teams
had no elite level female athlete registered to compete Belize,
Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Liechtenstein, Naururu and Somalia. Qatar, which wants
to host the twenty thirty six Olympics. WOA has just
one woman and its fourteen athlete team, or seven percent half.
(08:52):
The Katari team represents men's track and fields.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like really known low numbers to want to host this game.
Maybe I'm just.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well, I know, yes, I agree, but also I know
some sports folks who are listening will have the.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Soccer alarm bells.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Are ringing, the football alarm bells are ringing because there
was some drama with that too. About and I mean again,
there's so many controversies we could get into, but the
host country and like what happens right and what it
takes to make it is a big one by just
no guitars in this conversation before.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Right, Well, I mean they didn't host the World Cup,
so I mean, huh huh. Anyway, so would that also
we should look at leadership within the game, such as
the coaches. And here's a quote from CNN dot com.
But as female athletes are achieving gender parody on the
field of play, female representation in the boardroom and among coaches,
(09:59):
where power is concentrated still lags behind. Just thirteen percent
of coaches who attended the Tokyo Olympics for women, a
number that is widely expected to rise but still remain
low in Paris. If you look at women in coaching,
you're going to see a small percentage compared to men
being in that role because since sports have started, it's
(10:20):
been a men's play until the women have had to
start showing we can do great things as coaches and athletes,
and we're starting to see that shift. Michelle Lewis Freeman,
a former Olympian and now the head women's relay coach
for the US Track and Field team, told CNN. Freeman
is the first woman to hold the post, she says,
adding that the societal norms which traditionally prevented women from
holding such leadership roles in sports, are beginning to break down,
(10:44):
particularly as their work quote speaks for themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And the article continues quote. With still such a low
proportion of female coaches, they have taken to creating their
own support systems outside of their national federations. In the IOC,
Vicky Houten, founder of the Female Coaching Network, has created
a WhatsApp group for fifty two of the world's best
female coaches to support one another and shared advice, as
(11:07):
well as vent about a system that still discriminates against women.
We've got women who have coached a current Olympic gold
medalist that have still not been chosen as team staff repairs,
even though that athlete is going to be defending their
gold medal, Houten told CNN. She explains that many national
teams don't have a standardized way of selecting coaches for
(11:29):
a major competition, instead relying on quote, who the head
coach wants, rather than considering the needs of female athletes.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Right, But the IOC has commented on the fact that
the number of women in coaching is low, and here's
something from Olympics dot Com. Although pairs twenty twenty four
will break new ground. A real gender gap still exists
today in the athlete's entourage, where the number of women
holding leadership roles such as that of CHEFDA, Mission technical
official and coach remains remarkably low. At Tokyo twenty twenty,
(12:02):
only thirteen percent of coaches for women. The IOC is
committed to addressing the challenge and to supporting Olympic Movement
stakeholders to find pathways for more women to reach the
highest levels of coaching. Increasing the visibility of elite coaches
who have broken those barriers and who are role models
for more women to follow their lead is itself a goal,
(12:23):
and they have even participated in the hashtag women coach
in order to tackle the challenges coming forward, like like
a big hashtag that I've seen under their Twitter.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, along with that, they have also started the WISH
program and here's some information about that from Olympics dot
com quote. The program aims to open up more pathways
for women to progress into high performance coaching roles at national, continental,
and international competitions, including major events such as the Olympic
Games and the yog Are Youth Olympic Games. Backed by
(12:57):
USD one million dollars in Olympic solid funding, WISH will
benefit approximately one hundred women over four years, helping participants
develop their leadership skills, confidence and careers and giving them
one to one leadership mentoring plus ongoing support from a
sport specific mentor. I have to say I have been
(13:17):
watching the Olympics a lot since it started. I think
it's a nice like I put it on the background,
which I feel terrible because people like work their whole lives,
and I'm like, I have it on doing research on
cheese or.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Whatever, which is a true thing that happens.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But I have had it on in the background a lot,
and I have noticed I've clocked not that many female coaches,
especially for women right. And I've also picked up on
usually there's three commentators, two or men, one is a woman,
and they're supposed to have all been in the sport
(13:56):
involved somehow, usually they've won a medal. In the case
of US Olympic coverage, I don't. I've heard it's actually
wildly different in other countries, so I'd love to hear
from other listeners outside.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Of the US. But I have picked up on that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So it will be interesting to see how this progresses,
especially yeah, when right the next games happened in LA.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Actually, one of the stats that I did see is
they are bringing more women commentators. I think they said
around forty percent. Now I don't know if that's true
or not, because we don't hear obviously, we hear very
one sided us level of commentators, so it is interesting
to see if they have brought more on. I mean,
one dude got fired, so we'll talk about that in
(14:44):
a second, and the woman that was with him was like,
oh god, essentially, but that's all different conversations that we're
coming up to in a minute. With high stakes competitions
(15:07):
and games like the Olympics, it's not unreasonable to see
some controversy within the events, but some do feel a
bit too much overall, and we don't want to be
too much of a downer in this episode necessarily, I
guess kind of all the statistics are not wonderful either,
but we are talking about two of the bigger ones
that we have seen. I know there's many more. I'm
(15:30):
not talking about tennis right now.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Either.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We'll have an overall wrap up of everything we saw,
or at least a lot of things. We saw some
of the highlights that caught our attention. Again, yes, we
are very US centric, so for our international listeners, please
let us know what's going on because we love those
perspective as well. We think it's beautiful. We want more
of it, as you know, being in the US, were
we only see, like from very skewed perspective. I am
(15:55):
trying to get more information. TikTok has really helped in
seeing different perspectives and I am very grateful for that.
Social media come on. But with that, again, this is
a call out for y'all that let us know what's
going on from your perspective. But we do want to
highlight some key things. We're only going to talk about
a couple and I think y'all already probably have already
figured out we're going to talk about this one specifically.
(16:16):
In women's boxing, Italian boxer Angela Karini pulled out within
seconds of her fight with the Algerian boxer Iman Khalif,
I think like forty six seconds, and this has brought
out lots of nasty and ugly comments made by transphobic
and biased critics, including she who should not be named,
(16:38):
Rawlings herself. Yeah, I named her. This in itself is
an issue, but there's something to be noted here for
those who scream biological female and all of that nonsense,
and I'm calling it nonsense. Khalif has always identified as
female as a woman. Here's a quote that's a bit
about her from another AP news article. You know, AP
(16:59):
News is all all over the Olympics. Khalif was assigned
female at birth, and it says so on her password,
which is the International Olympic Committee's threshold for eligibility for
boxing because of the rift between the sports governing body
and the IOC. Khalif is a formidable athlete with respected
fighting skills, contending in top international events, including major amateur
(17:23):
boxing tournaments over the past six years, such as the
Tokyo Olympics. She's won a few regional gold medals.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
The article continues with her story quote. Born in nineteen
ninety nine, Khalif is from rural northwestern Algeria. Her father
initially didn't approve of girls participating in boxing, but Khalif
said she gave up soccer as a teenager to pursue
her new passion, even though she had to travel ten
kilometers each way to the gym. Khalif eventually caught the
(17:49):
attention of Algeria's national team, making her major tournament debut
in twenty eighteen with the first round loss at the
AIBA now the International Boxing Association World Championships. She lost
five of her first six elite level bouts, but improved
and excelled. Khalif was one of Algeria's first three Olympic
(18:11):
women's boxers sent to Tokyo three years ago. She won
her opening bout, but lost her second to eventual gold
medalist Kelly Harrington of Ireland. She also raised her profile
by doing well in the next two World Championships, and
she even became a UNISEF national ambassador early this year.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Right, and she had previously been disqualified from a twenty
twenty three World Championship due to quote failing unspecified and
untransparent eligibility test for women's competition from the now banned
International Boxing Association.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yes, and I would recommend you.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
See we did a whole episode about the history of
the Olympics kind of doing this, so go check that
out if you haven't our need a reminder, But yeah,
the reason for disqualification has been controversial in itself. More
from AP News quote. The circumstances of that disqualification have
been considered highly unusual ever since it happened, and Khalif
(19:07):
called it a big conspiracy at the time. She had
previously competed without issues and was disqualified by the sports
governing body only after she defeated Russian boxer Azalea Amineva
in the twenty twenty three tournament. The IBA is controlled
by Umar Kremlev, who is Russian, and brought in the
state owned energy supplier Gazprom as its primary sponsor and
(19:31):
moved much of the governing body's operations to Russia. This week,
the IOC described it as quote a sudden and arbitrary
decision by the IBA in which Khalif and Lynn Uting
of Taiwan quote were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
Lynn was suspended for failing to meet unspecified eligibility requirements
(19:52):
in a biochemical test, and it goes on quote the
governing body has revealed little about the nature of the test,
including what was tested and who tested it. This lack
of transparency would be unacceptable in major Olympic sports, and
the IBA has been banned from the Olympics since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Right, So with all of this negativity, many stand in
support of Khalif, and according to the AP News article quote,
opinions about Kalif's presence in Paris has ranged widely, often
directly correlated with the awareness of the news cycle raging
outside the athlete's village. Marissa Williamson Pullman of Australia lost
to Khalif in the Netherlands last May, and she said
(20:33):
Khalif was particularly strong. I did notice it. But you
just keep fighting though, don't you. Williamson Pullman said, It's
just part of the sport. All you want to do
is win, so you just keep chucking punches. Khalif also
receives support from peers like Amy Broadhurst, the accomplished Irish
amateur who beat Khalif in the twenty twenty two IBA
World Championships. Personally, I don't think she's done anything to cheat,
(20:56):
Broughdhurst wrote on social media. I think it's the way
she's born and that's out of her control. The fact
that she has been beaten by nine females before says
it all. And yeah, I think that's one of the
conversations that I've seen roll around a lot is that
no one had any problems with her until she started winning,
and they are now all pissed. And again that that
(21:16):
article about how the IBA all of a sudden like
she won one because she's been in them repeatedly up
until twenty twenty three, and they're like, oh wait, you
beat somebody, get out. She's she's disqualified because obviously look
at her, look at her gender, questioning her gender, which hmm, suspect.
So her next opponent, Anna Lukat Hamory from Hungary doesn't
seem too concerned, as she was courted as saying, I'm
(21:38):
not scared. I don't care about the story or social media.
So I think there's a lot to be said about
this conversation. I am excited to see her in the
next competitions. But yeah, this is an interesting overall commentary
that we see often. And the same thing happened with
the runners. The track runners are like, they're too fast,
so obviously they're doping. They're too quick, so obviously they
(22:00):
may be transgender, which is such a okay, try not
to get too angry the sports, but in general, the
obvious excuses. I just recently I've seen that coaches and
different people from different countries saying that they want to
change the rules of gymnastics because Simone Biles wins too much.
Essentially was that conversation. So I think there has to
(22:24):
be something to be noted in being a sore loser.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah that's just.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Me, I guess anyway. But yes, hopefully Amon is able
to protect herself from all this negativity that's happening around
her and just able to compete with her heart and
go all in.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, I mean, who needs this distraction? It's like such
a way true energy and time. Right well, speaking of
another recent controversy involved typical sexist Marx, and I did
tell Samantha I have been texting my friend Katie I've
talked about she's been on the show.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Random out of context.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Remarks I hear when I'm listening to the Olympics. I
should go back and see if any of them were sexist.
But anyway, there were some sexist remarks made by veteran
commentator Bob Ballard during the four by one hundred meter
freestyle relay race. Ballard had the audacity to say the
Australian team was quote finishing up, adding quote you know
(23:29):
what women are like hanging around doing their makeup. He
apologized after saying it quote wasn't his intention to upset
our belittle anyone. However, it was too late and he
was soon removed as a commentator for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Right, and like I said, his co commentator, who Lizzie Simmons,
I think they were both employed by Eurosports, was They're like,
that's outrageous and try to make a joke about how
the men do it to, you know, trying to like
push passage. But of course, like it didn't work, in
which he did have to come on to Twitter as well.
(24:11):
Apparently people were harassing her and they're like, leave her alone.
She had nothing to do with this essentially, so at
least he did that, I guess by the way, he
has actually worked with the BBC for a very long time.
So the article that we were looking at was a
BBC article, and I was like, huh, I wonder they
(24:32):
didn't really try to say too much. But I wonder,
but this isn't the only time that we are hearing
about sexist comments. Apparently, a French radio commentator also decided
to add to the misogyny by referencing one of the
French doubles women's team as the one that quote does
the dishes, she cooks, she mups. It was not a
(24:55):
private show, so I think not everyone was able to
hear it, but the people who were were like, what
the hell, dude, what the hell? Including is the French
doubles team. They hurt it and they obviously were very,
very offended by this take. I haven't seen any response
or any apologies made, so why twenty twenty four, twenty.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Twenty four, I have to say I have and I
don't know how to feel about this. I don't know
that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they have
been focusing really hard on like past women athletes that
are like watching the events they used to do, who
have babies, and the way they'll like focus it on
like she has a new life now with a baby
(25:37):
as all.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Why to stop?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's just strange, Like I kind of get it, but
I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Need to see all these babies. I'm here for the volleyball, all.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Right, as well as the fact that we don't see
that often obviously with the men.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
No, it's so far I have not seen one. I'm
not saying it doesn't exist. But I have been watching
a lot of Olympics. I have not seen one example
of that. It's always women holding a baby and they're like,
she had to give up her sport for to go
to motherhood.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It's like, what she probably was tired, her body was tired,
she wanted a baby.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, that's in the stage of her life and she's happy.
This is what we talk about with women's choices. Would
you leave her? Be let her enjoy the game. But
with that, it's also important that we talk about some
of the good things that we see happening in the games. Again,
we're going to do a wrap up at the end,
talk about more of these events, probably the good and
the bad once again. But you know, just for this episode,
(26:36):
just a few of the highlights. Again, I have a
feeling by the time you listen to this either a
really dated or B you're like, why didn't you cover this?
Because look, we were writing and getting things done and
you know, checking real time is hard. So just recently,
the South Korean women's archery team won their tenth consecutive
gold medal. The country has won the gold every year
(27:00):
since the introduction of the women's team archery competition in
nineteen eighty eight, and I saw a lot of jokes
which did make me laugh about how yes, if nothing else,
South Koreans know how to use a helbow and arrow,
and I was like, damn it, I failed. I need
to learn an archery.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I got a bowner.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, let's let's meet up. Le's see how naturally talented
I am in my blood.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Laurence Scrugs is the first black American woman to win
individual fencing competition. She made US history by winning silver
in the women's individual foil fencing. Here's a bit from
today dot Com quote. Scrugs became the first Black American
woman to win an individual medal in fencing. As Team USA,
it took the top two spots. Defending Olympic champion Lee Keefer, thirty,
(27:47):
won her second gold medal by defeating Scrugs fifteen to six.
In the final quote, it was shocking for me to
be here in the first place. I don't even think
I've had time to process that, Scruggs told the Team
USA website, super grateful to be able to fence in
front of such a big crowd and in such a
beautiful space. It also marked the first time American women
(28:08):
have finished one two in the Olympics in individual foil fencing.
Scruggs is hoping her performance might inspire other girls who
look like her to give it a try.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Fencing is really pretty. That's what I've decided.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I've watched a lot of fins that I have.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, that is in shooting. We're not talking about
the Korean women again, but like the standing that is
happening with them is quite hysterical and fun to watch
as a tech talk like the fan camed or the
fan all of that, like wow eds a fan, Wow, y'all, y'all,
(28:46):
y'all are really invested.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I did see.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
It's funny because I keep getting these headlines and I'm like, oh, yeah,
I did see that in like real time. Oh but
then I find out there like an.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Did you have the moment of like yes, I would
call her.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I No, I did not have that. No, but I
remember being like, oh cool. And then there's someone else
that really took off.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
And then I saw I I saw the little girl
who like almost passed out.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
When Katie the DECKI waved at her. Yeah that was great. Yeah,
And I saw that before it like went viral and
I was like, this.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Is super cute. Yes, we haven't talked about this like
swimming or anything. I know we'll come back, y'all will
come back because I know there's been a lot of
like Canada and Australia and the US have been doing
some things. Way to go, clap clap, clup, clup clup.
We'll come back to it. But yeah, I think it's funny.
And are you talking about the Turkish hit man that
(29:44):
swearing he's a hit man?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
It just comes up to me, I like on my
Google feet and I was like, I didn't know this
took off.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Everybody's like he's not even wearing protective eye care like nothing,
that he's wearing nothing, and they're like, yeah, he's definitely
a professional. Like they're calling way on the real from
the okay, oh y'all. So uh. Then we have Christa
(30:18):
Degucci who has won the first gold medal in judo
for Canada. So here's a bit about her from CBC
Dot ca A. The twenty eight year old one Canada's
first ever Olympic gold medal in judah with a win
over South Korea's Humming Me in the under fifty seven
kilogram category at Arena Champ de Mars on Monday. The
gold adds to Daguchi's impressive resume. They includes four World
(30:42):
championship medals, two gold, one silver, and one bronze. And
apparently she was like when she figured out she won,
as in fact like to be the first one to
win between men and women for Canada. She's like, oh really,
I'm number one? Did that cool? Like that was? That
was her amazing reaction. So I was like, yeah, yeah, girl,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
We also have Nigeria coming out swinging and women's basketball.
In their first game for this Olympics, they had their
first win in twenty years against Australia. Here's some more
information from iafrica dot Com quote. Nigeria's women's basketball team
celebrated a landmark victory against Australia in their Olympic opener,
marking their first win at the Olympics in twenty years.
(31:25):
Team member Amy Akonkwo, who scored thirteen points, emphasized that
unity within the team and a determination to overcome adversity
were crucial to securing the win. A Zenei Kalu, who
had nineteen points in the win highlighted the team's resilience
and the desire to prove themselves at the Olympics as
factors for the win. This victory follows a difficult period
(31:48):
for Nigerian basketball, which included missing the twenty twenty two
World Cup due to internal conflicts between the team and
the nation's government. The team aims to reach the quarterfinals,
something no African country has ever done, and the win
will boost their hopes of achieving that goal. However, they
did recently lose to France, but they have an upcoming
(32:10):
match with Canada.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I love hearing all.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
The specifics when the commentators explain it to me, Amick, Well,
it's culplicated, yeah, but yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Good luck to Nigeria. We're rooting for you. So lastly,
we wanted to talk about Haley Batton. Though she didn't
win in the Mountain Biking Cross Country Games, she was
able to finish second, with the best ever finished for
anyone for the US mountain Biking team. But it's not
just that, it's the overall women helping women that made
the story different. During the race, Baton had the added
(32:39):
challenge of a tire puncture, which inevitably caused a huge
delay for her. Third place winner, Jenny Reyesvevs actually assisted Baton,
and here's a bit from Nbcolympics dot com. I was
so lucky that Jenny Rizvez was behind me, Baton said.
The writers passed me on the jump when I had
to take the bee line, and she quickly shouted out
to my mechanic. Haley has a flat so he was ready.
(33:03):
It shows how amazing our sport is and what an
incredible athlete she is and writer in person. My mechanic
did the fastest will change ever and with the support
of Wezved, Baton's medal chances went from bleak to hopeful
in a matter of seconds. And if you go on
to look at the article from Nbcolympics dot Com, you'll
see a wonderful picture of the two of them hugging
(33:23):
at the finish line. Baton goes on to say more
about the support for each other. I think that the
most beautiful part of the sport is that you can
be on that start line together and I think, honestly,
we want to make each other stronger. Baton said, you
give your best fight, I'll give my best fight, and
you know, the stronger writer will win. I think it
(33:44):
makes those battles so much more rewarding when we both
put our heart into it and we did it the
right way, and she went above and beyond to help me,
And how tough it was to get a flat in
that moment, especially at the Olympic Games. To make that
a little bit easier was incredible. So we love these stories.
I do know that Baton did get a fine apparently
like five hundred and something dollars because they went to
(34:06):
the wrong place to change the higher I guess there's
regulations on where you can do this, but they didn't
strip her of the metal, so she still went out
with a silver. Of course, that conversation went to had
she not gotten that puncture, would she have won the
doop doope. But with that, it does show her endurance
being able to catch up and proceed to getting the
silver again. I love stories like this where you see
(34:30):
them actually being sportsmen like and not just getting all
out about winning. So it was a beautiful story. We
had to include that. Love more stories like this. Honestly,
the gymnasts watching the gymnasts supporting each other, and I'm
talking about from different countries like I've seen like China
being No, I have to watch Simone Biles. I have
to see what she's doing. I want to get like
(34:51):
and honestly, on TikTok, there's so many things about the pins,
everybody exchanging their pins and trying to get all of them.
It's the cutest thing seen in a long time. It
reminds me of your love of the Friendship bracelets and
Taylor Swift. So but I was like, Oh, this is
really really, really adorable, and I love that all the
athletes are really one hundred and ten percent in in
(35:12):
trying to collect these pins.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, and I do.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I was actually my friends about it because we were
watching the Olympics together and I never like, I want
you to fail unless you're complete douche that I know
outside of the Olympics, but like, generally I want you
to succeed. When I'm watching the gymnastics, I'm like, I
(35:35):
know you've worked hard to be here. I want you
to succeed. I'm not like hoping you're going to fall.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
And so I do. I like seeing that too.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Within the competitors of you know you do you still
want to win, You're going to do your best to win,
but you're not like sitting there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Oh, I hope she breaks her life.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Oh my god, like nineties speakure skating world.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Uh huh, hey, memories, memories. There's been drama, drama, right.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And there's a lot of conversations to be had with
the good and the bed. We know there's a lot
of protests happening, and we support that as well. We
know when it comes to events like this that oftentimes
the marginalized people's in that community are oftentimes forgotten and
or pushed aside purposely. And that's a conversation that always
(36:31):
needs to happen because we know how much money this
can make a city, which is why they've bit for
it or an organization, which we already kind of mentioned,
and the fact that none of it really goes back
to giving to that community in itself is abhorrent. So
I think there's a lot to be talked about. We've
talked about this repeatedly and both those things like you
(36:51):
want to enjoy this because it does feel like it's
something that unice but at the same time, does it
is it more greedy than not? Who knows? But having
stories that talk about people's heart and love for the
competition does feel like it's something to be noted in
that we need to recognize the hard work.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yes, yes, absolutely absolutely I did, Like I watched I
got to watch the gymnastics All Around final vive.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Yesterday, which was cool.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, and I did like how one of the commentators,
who was a woman, she kept saying like, listen, this
is so hard, even if you're watching it and you're like, oh,
she fell, this is like the hardest thing.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
I like actually kept reiterating like.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Was it Laurie Hernandez, past Olympic competitor who everybody is
loving because she has been hired who was a US JO. Yeah, yeah,
she might've been hard because she knows absolutely one hundred
and ten thousand percent knows the adverts that they are pudding.
I also love right now there's a TikTok trend of
like people who have dabbled in gymnastic sort do competitions
(38:01):
and putting up there like fails and being like the
reason I didn't qualify and dives so oh the dives
like painful.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Oh gosh, the dives.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Yes, that's also become a whole like fan fiction trope
with a women dive synchronized diving teams.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
If you think I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
As like their name and itself just brought out all
the puns. But the Chinese synchronized swimmers, there's tails, there's
tails all.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Well, there are tales, and there are more tales to
be told. We'll definitely do a wrap up when the
Olympics come to an end it, but in the meantime, please, yeah,
if you have any thoughts, if you have anything you
think we should talk about or focus on. If you're
from a different country and you're like, this is what
it's like where I am, we would love to.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Hear from you.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
You can email us at Steph Mediamom, Steph at iHeartMedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at most
of the podcasts, or on Instagram and to talk at
stuff one Never Told You.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
We're else on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
We have a tea public store, and we have a
book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always to our super produced Christine and our executive
producer and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to
you for listening. Stuff on Never Told You is production
of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
you can check out the heart Radio app Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
I never told you, precture, I heard.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You, and it's that time again, Olympics time. I felt
like I was doing a chair And honestly, we can't
wait to hear from our different contributors about what is happening.
(00:29):
So I feel like this is a call out, yo, yo,
send us your information, send us your thoughts, send us
your commentary, because we love it. But we decided that
we wanted to go down a couple of different routes
for this episode on what is happening as it has
just started. I know a lot of few games, but
there's a lot of things happening constantly, changing wins and
(00:51):
controversies and so much. But before we start with what's
happening with the current twenty twenty four Olympics, we wanted
to talk a little bit about some of the historical things,
specifically with the IOC or International Olympic Committee, So we
wanted to start with, of course, the women of the IOC.
We kind of talked about how they were so delayed
(01:13):
and behind and allowing for women to be a part
of the Olympics in general, just to compete and how
women had to do their own thing, and they were
like the IOC was super mad, you know. The French
too was like, no, women shouldn't be here, and now
we're in Paris anyway, So we wanted to talk about
the actual IOC in itself and how the leadership was
(01:34):
very slow when it came to allowing the women to
be a part of the organization itself. So not only
were they slow about allowing women to be a part
of it, and I think it took it till twenty
twelve for it to have an actual, like equal representation
of women in the competitions, not necessarily the competitors, but
the competition and games itself. So here's question number one,
(01:58):
When did the IOC allow women to be a part
of the leadership? Again, I think we talked about this
on our feminists around the world just recently. But the
IOC was founded in eighteen ninety four and they governed
the National Olympic Committees, which there is a total of
like two hundred and six, which are kind of take
care of their own country and who they bring in
(02:19):
to the competitions. So it wasn't until nineteen eighty one
that the IOC finally allowed two women to become official
members of the IOC, and they were former Olympians. I'm
so sorry if I butchered these names. Y'all know, when
it comes to the international names and episodes, sometimes it's
really hard for us to find that information. So if
you know these names and we're saying it wrong, just
(02:42):
let us know. But Hearjo Hogman from Finland and Flora
Isava Fnesca from Venezuela and Finesco was the first to
serve on the executive board, which happened in nineteen ninety Yes.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And if you listen to our earlier episode of Feminists
around the World, which by the way, this is coming
out August second, twenty twenty four, things.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Are changing very quickly, very rapidly.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know. We already talked about the first woman to
be appointed as the vice president, and she has accomplished
quite a lot for so many hears a bit from
Wikipedia about her quote. In nineteen ninety two, De France
began chairing the prototype of the IOC Commission on Women
in Sport. Defrance not only worked towards promoting gender equality
(03:29):
and sports, but she also wanted to move toward gender
equality in the IOC so women could be equally represented.
She believed that without equal representation in the IOC that
women's voices would not get an equal chance to be heard.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So the Commission, which has since been renamed Gender Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion Commission, is running strong. According to Olympics
dot Com. Here is how they define the role of
the Commission. The Commission advises the IOC Session, the IOC
Executive Board, and the IOC President on the implementation of
the Gender Equality and Inclusion Strategy to enable them to
(04:07):
make informed and balanced decisions to advance gender equality in
sport on and off the field of play across the
three spheres of responsibility of the IOC, which is the
IOC as an organization, the IOC as owner of the
Olympic Games, the IOC as leader of the Olympic Movement,
and just fyi. According to their website, they still have
difference as an honorary member. Also, we're not talking about
(04:32):
the money that is made within the IOC, but we
know it's in the billions just fyi anyway, and there
hasn't been much conversation about what is how it's distributed
and whether or not there's corruption. I think there was
a dude that was just like, we're not saying that's corrupt,
but we're saying there's really no accountability about what is
(04:53):
happening with the money, So just let that linger there. So,
with the help of a Vice President, Defrance and her
new Commissi, the IOC created a new policy that required
that women would make up twenty percent of the participants,
which seems like a low amount, but they actually failed
(05:13):
to do this in two thousand and five, which was
the goal date, and would not be met even in
twenty twelve. So seven years later still hadn't been met.
Y'all twenty twelve. My gosh, I was out of college
by this point. I'm old. But as of this Olympics,
forty one percent of the IOC membership is held by women,
and fourteen of the thirty three commissions are led by women,
and at least thirty three percent of women are on
(05:35):
the Executive Board, so you know, the numbers are rising. However,
I think it's important to note that there has yet
to be a woman to be appointed as the President
of the IOC, So VP is as high as women
have gotten.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, so have these policies, commissions and efforts worked. According
to the new releases for this year's games, Yes, the
IOC set a goal of making the participants of fifty
to fifty split in registered competitors, but they didn't quite.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Hit the marks.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Here are some statistics for this year. According to an
ap news dot com article quote one week before the
opening ceremony, the official IOC database for the Paris Olympics
showed eleven thousand, two hundred and fifteen athletes including backups,
registered to compete. Five thousand, seven hundred and twelve and
men's events and five thousand, five hundred and three in
(06:33):
women's events are of fifty one to forty nine percent split.
In track and field, which has qualifying standards the athletes
must reach, there were fifty more registered for the men's
events than women's one thousand and ninety one to one
thousand and forty one. And swimming, the difference was four
hundred and sixty four to three hundred ninety three. In soccer,
(06:56):
with sixteen teams in the men's tournament and just twelve
in the women, the athlete tally was three hundred and
fifty one to two hundred and sixty four. The wrestling
entry has one hundred and ninety three men and ninety
six women with a men only category in Greco Roman.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And according to that same report, it shows that the
US has the highest number of women competing, with three
hundred and thirty eight women out of six hundred and
thirty eight delegates, making it a fifty three percentage of women.
But with that, it's also noted that one of the
reasons include that the men's field hockey team did not
qualify for those games while the women's did so. Just
put that in the back of your head. But there
(07:33):
are other countries that have more women percentage wise. Here's
another quote from the AP News article. Guam, a US
island territory east of the Philippines, led the way with
eighty seven point five percent women seven in this team
of eight athletes. According to the IOC database, Guam's seven
women are in six different sports. Nicaragua is set to
(07:54):
arrive with eighty six percent women six of its seven athletes,
in Sierra Leone with eighty percent and by the way,
currently there are only two athletes who identify as non
binary and transgender among the athletes, Nikki Hilts from the
US and Quinn from the Canadian soccer team.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Which all Listener wrote in about Yes Listener wrote in
be Quinn However, with the number of players becoming more
equal and diverse, there are still some issues with that.
There are several countries that have not progressed as well.
Here's some more information from that AP news article.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Six of the two hundred and five official Olympic teams
had no elite level female athlete registered to compete Belize,
Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Liechtenstein, Naururu and Somalia. Qatar, which wants
to host the twenty thirty six Olympics. WOA has just
one woman and its fourteen athlete team, or seven percent half.
(08:52):
The Katari team represents men's track and fields.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like really known low numbers to want to host this game.
Maybe I'm just.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well, I know, yes, I agree, but also I know
some sports folks who are listening will have the.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Soccer alarm bells.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Are ringing, the football alarm bells are ringing because there
was some drama with that too. About and I mean again,
there's so many controversies we could get into, but the
host country and like what happens right and what it
takes to make it is a big one by just
no guitars in this conversation before.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Right, Well, I mean they didn't host the World Cup,
so I mean, huh huh. Anyway, so would that also
we should look at leadership within the game, such as
the coaches. And here's a quote from CNN dot com.
But as female athletes are achieving gender parody on the
field of play, female representation in the boardroom and among coaches,
(09:59):
where power is concentrated still lags behind. Just thirteen percent
of coaches who attended the Tokyo Olympics for women, a
number that is widely expected to rise but still remain
low in Paris. If you look at women in coaching,
you're going to see a small percentage compared to men
being in that role because since sports have started, it's
(10:20):
been a men's play until the women have had to
start showing we can do great things as coaches and athletes,
and we're starting to see that shift. Michelle Lewis Freeman,
a former Olympian and now the head women's relay coach
for the US Track and Field team, told CNN. Freeman
is the first woman to hold the post, she says,
adding that the societal norms which traditionally prevented women from
holding such leadership roles in sports, are beginning to break down,
(10:44):
particularly as their work quote speaks for themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And the article continues quote. With still such a low
proportion of female coaches, they have taken to creating their
own support systems outside of their national federations. In the IOC,
Vicky Houten, founder of the Female Coaching Network, has created
a WhatsApp group for fifty two of the world's best
female coaches to support one another and shared advice, as
(11:07):
well as vent about a system that still discriminates against women.
We've got women who have coached a current Olympic gold
medalist that have still not been chosen as team staff repairs,
even though that athlete is going to be defending their
gold medal, Houten told CNN. She explains that many national
teams don't have a standardized way of selecting coaches for
(11:29):
a major competition, instead relying on quote, who the head
coach wants, rather than considering the needs of female athletes.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Right, But the IOC has commented on the fact that
the number of women in coaching is low, and here's
something from Olympics dot Com. Although pairs twenty twenty four
will break new ground. A real gender gap still exists
today in the athlete's entourage, where the number of women
holding leadership roles such as that of CHEFDA, Mission technical
official and coach remains remarkably low. At Tokyo twenty twenty,
(12:02):
only thirteen percent of coaches for women. The IOC is
committed to addressing the challenge and to supporting Olympic Movement
stakeholders to find pathways for more women to reach the
highest levels of coaching. Increasing the visibility of elite coaches
who have broken those barriers and who are role models
for more women to follow their lead is itself a goal,
(12:23):
and they have even participated in the hashtag women coach
in order to tackle the challenges coming forward, like like
a big hashtag that I've seen under their Twitter.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, along with that, they have also started the WISH
program and here's some information about that from Olympics dot
com quote. The program aims to open up more pathways
for women to progress into high performance coaching roles at national, continental,
and international competitions, including major events such as the Olympic
Games and the yog Are Youth Olympic Games. Backed by
(12:57):
USD one million dollars in Olympic solid funding, WISH will
benefit approximately one hundred women over four years, helping participants
develop their leadership skills, confidence and careers and giving them
one to one leadership mentoring plus ongoing support from a
sport specific mentor. I have to say I have been
(13:17):
watching the Olympics a lot since it started. I think
it's a nice like I put it on the background,
which I feel terrible because people like work their whole lives,
and I'm like, I have it on doing research on
cheese or.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Whatever, which is a true thing that happens.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
But I have had it on in the background a lot,
and I have noticed I've clocked not that many female coaches,
especially for women right. And I've also picked up on
usually there's three commentators, two or men, one is a woman,
and they're supposed to have all been in the sport
(13:56):
involved somehow, usually they've won a medal. In the case
of US Olympic coverage, I don't. I've heard it's actually
wildly different in other countries, so I'd love to hear
from other listeners outside.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Of the US. But I have picked up on that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So it will be interesting to see how this progresses,
especially yeah, when right the next games happened in LA.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Actually, one of the stats that I did see is
they are bringing more women commentators. I think they said
around forty percent. Now I don't know if that's true
or not, because we don't hear obviously, we hear very
one sided us level of commentators, so it is interesting
to see if they have brought more on. I mean,
one dude got fired, so we'll talk about that in
(14:44):
a second, and the woman that was with him was like,
oh god, essentially, but that's all different conversations that we're
coming up to in a minute. With high stakes competitions
(15:07):
and games like the Olympics, it's not unreasonable to see
some controversy within the events, but some do feel a
bit too much overall, and we don't want to be
too much of a downer in this episode necessarily, I
guess kind of all the statistics are not wonderful either,
but we are talking about two of the bigger ones
that we have seen. I know there's many more. I'm
(15:30):
not talking about tennis right now.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Either.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We'll have an overall wrap up of everything we saw,
or at least a lot of things. We saw some
of the highlights that caught our attention. Again, yes, we
are very US centric, so for our international listeners, please
let us know what's going on because we love those
perspective as well. We think it's beautiful. We want more
of it, as you know, being in the US, were
we only see, like from very skewed perspective. I am
(15:55):
trying to get more information. TikTok has really helped in
seeing different perspectives and I am very grateful for that.
Social media come on. But with that, again, this is
a call out for y'all that let us know what's
going on from your perspective. But we do want to
highlight some key things. We're only going to talk about
a couple and I think y'all already probably have already
figured out we're going to talk about this one specifically.
(16:16):
In women's boxing, Italian boxer Angela Karini pulled out within
seconds of her fight with the Algerian boxer Iman Khalif,
I think like forty six seconds, and this has brought
out lots of nasty and ugly comments made by transphobic
and biased critics, including she who should not be named,
(16:38):
Rawlings herself. Yeah, I named her. This in itself is
an issue, but there's something to be noted here for
those who scream biological female and all of that nonsense,
and I'm calling it nonsense. Khalif has always identified as
female as a woman. Here's a quote that's a bit
about her from another AP news article. You know, AP
(16:59):
News is all all over the Olympics. Khalif was assigned
female at birth, and it says so on her password,
which is the International Olympic Committee's threshold for eligibility for
boxing because of the rift between the sports governing body
and the IOC. Khalif is a formidable athlete with respected
fighting skills, contending in top international events, including major amateur
(17:23):
boxing tournaments over the past six years, such as the
Tokyo Olympics. She's won a few regional gold medals.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
The article continues with her story quote. Born in nineteen
ninety nine, Khalif is from rural northwestern Algeria. Her father
initially didn't approve of girls participating in boxing, but Khalif
said she gave up soccer as a teenager to pursue
her new passion, even though she had to travel ten
kilometers each way to the gym. Khalif eventually caught the
(17:49):
attention of Algeria's national team, making her major tournament debut
in twenty eighteen with the first round loss at the
AIBA now the International Boxing Association World Championships. She lost
five of her first six elite level bouts, but improved
and excelled. Khalif was one of Algeria's first three Olympic
(18:11):
women's boxers sent to Tokyo three years ago. She won
her opening bout, but lost her second to eventual gold
medalist Kelly Harrington of Ireland. She also raised her profile
by doing well in the next two World Championships, and
she even became a UNISEF national ambassador early this year.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Right, and she had previously been disqualified from a twenty
twenty three World Championship due to quote failing unspecified and
untransparent eligibility test for women's competition from the now banned
International Boxing Association.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yes, and I would recommend you.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
See we did a whole episode about the history of
the Olympics kind of doing this, so go check that
out if you haven't our need a reminder, But yeah,
the reason for disqualification has been controversial in itself. More
from AP News quote. The circumstances of that disqualification have
been considered highly unusual ever since it happened, and Khalif
(19:07):
called it a big conspiracy at the time. She had
previously competed without issues and was disqualified by the sports
governing body only after she defeated Russian boxer Azalea Amineva
in the twenty twenty three tournament. The IBA is controlled
by Umar Kremlev, who is Russian, and brought in the
state owned energy supplier Gazprom as its primary sponsor and
(19:31):
moved much of the governing body's operations to Russia. This week,
the IOC described it as quote a sudden and arbitrary
decision by the IBA in which Khalif and Lynn Uting
of Taiwan quote were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
Lynn was suspended for failing to meet unspecified eligibility requirements
(19:52):
in a biochemical test, and it goes on quote the
governing body has revealed little about the nature of the test,
including what was tested and who tested it. This lack
of transparency would be unacceptable in major Olympic sports, and
the IBA has been banned from the Olympics since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Right, So with all of this negativity, many stand in
support of Khalif, and according to the AP News article quote,
opinions about Kalif's presence in Paris has ranged widely, often
directly correlated with the awareness of the news cycle raging
outside the athlete's village. Marissa Williamson Pullman of Australia lost
to Khalif in the Netherlands last May, and she said
(20:33):
Khalif was particularly strong. I did notice it. But you
just keep fighting though, don't you. Williamson Pullman said, It's
just part of the sport. All you want to do
is win, so you just keep chucking punches. Khalif also
receives support from peers like Amy Broadhurst, the accomplished Irish
amateur who beat Khalif in the twenty twenty two IBA
World Championships. Personally, I don't think she's done anything to cheat,
(20:56):
Broughdhurst wrote on social media. I think it's the way
she's born and that's out of her control. The fact
that she has been beaten by nine females before says
it all. And yeah, I think that's one of the
conversations that I've seen roll around a lot is that
no one had any problems with her until she started winning,
and they are now all pissed. And again that that
(21:16):
article about how the IBA all of a sudden like
she won one because she's been in them repeatedly up
until twenty twenty three, and they're like, oh wait, you
beat somebody, get out. She's she's disqualified because obviously look
at her, look at her gender, questioning her gender, which hmm, suspect.
So her next opponent, Anna Lukat Hamory from Hungary doesn't
seem too concerned, as she was courted as saying, I'm
(21:38):
not scared. I don't care about the story or social media.
So I think there's a lot to be said about
this conversation. I am excited to see her in the
next competitions. But yeah, this is an interesting overall commentary
that we see often. And the same thing happened with
the runners. The track runners are like, they're too fast,
so obviously they're doping. They're too quick, so obviously they
(22:00):
may be transgender, which is such a okay, try not
to get too angry the sports, but in general, the
obvious excuses. I just recently I've seen that coaches and
different people from different countries saying that they want to
change the rules of gymnastics because Simone Biles wins too much.
Essentially was that conversation. So I think there has to
(22:24):
be something to be noted in being a sore loser.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah that's just.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Me, I guess anyway. But yes, hopefully Amon is able
to protect herself from all this negativity that's happening around
her and just able to compete with her heart and
go all in.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, I mean, who needs this distraction? It's like such
a way true energy and time. Right well, speaking of
another recent controversy involved typical sexist Marx, and I did
tell Samantha I have been texting my friend Katie I've
talked about she's been on the show.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Random out of context.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Remarks I hear when I'm listening to the Olympics. I
should go back and see if any of them were sexist.
But anyway, there were some sexist remarks made by veteran
commentator Bob Ballard during the four by one hundred meter
freestyle relay race. Ballard had the audacity to say the
Australian team was quote finishing up, adding quote you know
(23:29):
what women are like hanging around doing their makeup. He
apologized after saying it quote wasn't his intention to upset
our belittle anyone. However, it was too late and he
was soon removed as a commentator for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Right, and like I said, his co commentator, who Lizzie Simmons,
I think they were both employed by Eurosports, was They're like,
that's outrageous and try to make a joke about how
the men do it to, you know, trying to like
push passage. But of course, like it didn't work, in
which he did have to come on to Twitter as well.
(24:11):
Apparently people were harassing her and they're like, leave her alone.
She had nothing to do with this essentially, so at
least he did that, I guess by the way, he
has actually worked with the BBC for a very long time.
So the article that we were looking at was a
BBC article, and I was like, huh, I wonder they
(24:32):
didn't really try to say too much. But I wonder,
but this isn't the only time that we are hearing
about sexist comments. Apparently, a French radio commentator also decided
to add to the misogyny by referencing one of the
French doubles women's team as the one that quote does
the dishes, she cooks, she mups. It was not a
(24:55):
private show, so I think not everyone was able to
hear it, but the people who were were like, what
the hell, dude, what the hell? Including is the French
doubles team. They hurt it and they obviously were very,
very offended by this take. I haven't seen any response
or any apologies made, so why twenty twenty four, twenty.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Twenty four, I have to say I have and I
don't know how to feel about this. I don't know
that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they have
been focusing really hard on like past women athletes that
are like watching the events they used to do, who
have babies, and the way they'll like focus it on
like she has a new life now with a baby
(25:37):
as all.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Why to stop?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's just strange, Like I kind of get it, but
I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Need to see all these babies. I'm here for the volleyball, all.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Right, as well as the fact that we don't see
that often obviously with the men.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
No, it's so far I have not seen one. I'm
not saying it doesn't exist. But I have been watching
a lot of Olympics. I have not seen one example
of that. It's always women holding a baby and they're like,
she had to give up her sport for to go
to motherhood.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It's like, what she probably was tired, her body was tired,
she wanted a baby.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, that's in the stage of her life and she's happy.
This is what we talk about with women's choices. Would
you leave her? Be let her enjoy the game. But
with that, it's also important that we talk about some
of the good things that we see happening in the games. Again,
we're going to do a wrap up at the end,
talk about more of these events, probably the good and
the bad once again. But you know, just for this episode,
(26:36):
just a few of the highlights. Again, I have a
feeling by the time you listen to this either a
really dated or B you're like, why didn't you cover this?
Because look, we were writing and getting things done and
you know, checking real time is hard. So just recently,
the South Korean women's archery team won their tenth consecutive
gold medal. The country has won the gold every year
(27:00):
since the introduction of the women's team archery competition in
nineteen eighty eight, and I saw a lot of jokes
which did make me laugh about how yes, if nothing else,
South Koreans know how to use a helbow and arrow,
and I was like, damn it, I failed. I need
to learn an archery.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I got a bowner.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, let's let's meet up. Le's see how naturally talented
I am in my blood.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Laurence Scrugs is the first black American woman to win
individual fencing competition. She made US history by winning silver
in the women's individual foil fencing. Here's a bit from
today dot Com quote. Scrugs became the first Black American
woman to win an individual medal in fencing. As Team USA,
it took the top two spots. Defending Olympic champion Lee Keefer, thirty,
(27:47):
won her second gold medal by defeating Scrugs fifteen to six.
In the final quote, it was shocking for me to
be here in the first place. I don't even think
I've had time to process that, Scruggs told the Team
USA website, super grateful to be able to fence in
front of such a big crowd and in such a
beautiful space. It also marked the first time American women
(28:08):
have finished one two in the Olympics in individual foil fencing.
Scruggs is hoping her performance might inspire other girls who
look like her to give it a try.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Fencing is really pretty. That's what I've decided.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
I've watched a lot of fins that I have.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, that is in shooting. We're not talking about
the Korean women again, but like the standing that is
happening with them is quite hysterical and fun to watch
as a tech talk like the fan camed or the
fan all of that, like wow eds a fan, Wow, y'all, y'all,
(28:46):
y'all are really invested.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I did see.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
It's funny because I keep getting these headlines and I'm like, oh, yeah,
I did see that in like real time. Oh but
then I find out there like an.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Did you have the moment of like yes, I would
call her.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I No, I did not have that. No, but I
remember being like, oh cool. And then there's someone else
that really took off.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
And then I saw I I saw the little girl
who like almost passed out.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
When Katie the DECKI waved at her. Yeah that was great. Yeah,
And I saw that before it like went viral and
I was like, this.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Is super cute. Yes, we haven't talked about this like
swimming or anything. I know we'll come back, y'all will
come back because I know there's been a lot of
like Canada and Australia and the US have been doing
some things. Way to go, clap clap, clup, clup clup.
We'll come back to it. But yeah, I think it's funny.
And are you talking about the Turkish hit man that
(29:44):
swearing he's a hit man?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
It just comes up to me, I like on my
Google feet and I was like, I didn't know this
took off.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Everybody's like he's not even wearing protective eye care like nothing,
that he's wearing nothing, and they're like, yeah, he's definitely
a professional. Like they're calling way on the real from
the okay, oh y'all. So uh. Then we have Christa
(30:18):
Degucci who has won the first gold medal in judo
for Canada. So here's a bit about her from CBC
Dot ca A. The twenty eight year old one Canada's
first ever Olympic gold medal in judah with a win
over South Korea's Humming Me in the under fifty seven
kilogram category at Arena Champ de Mars on Monday. The
gold adds to Daguchi's impressive resume. They includes four World
(30:42):
championship medals, two gold, one silver, and one bronze. And
apparently she was like when she figured out she won,
as in fact like to be the first one to
win between men and women for Canada. She's like, oh really,
I'm number one? Did that cool? Like that was? That
was her amazing reaction. So I was like, yeah, yeah, girl,
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
We also have Nigeria coming out swinging and women's basketball.
In their first game for this Olympics, they had their
first win in twenty years against Australia. Here's some more
information from iafrica dot Com quote. Nigeria's women's basketball team
celebrated a landmark victory against Australia in their Olympic opener,
marking their first win at the Olympics in twenty years.
(31:25):
Team member Amy Akonkwo, who scored thirteen points, emphasized that
unity within the team and a determination to overcome adversity
were crucial to securing the win. A Zenei Kalu, who
had nineteen points in the win highlighted the team's resilience
and the desire to prove themselves at the Olympics as
factors for the win. This victory follows a difficult period
(31:48):
for Nigerian basketball, which included missing the twenty twenty two
World Cup due to internal conflicts between the team and
the nation's government. The team aims to reach the quarterfinals,
something no African country has ever done, and the win
will boost their hopes of achieving that goal. However, they
did recently lose to France, but they have an upcoming
(32:10):
match with Canada.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I love hearing all.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
The specifics when the commentators explain it to me, Amick, Well,
it's culplicated, yeah, but yes, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Good luck to Nigeria. We're rooting for you. So lastly,
we wanted to talk about Haley Batton. Though she didn't
win in the Mountain Biking Cross Country Games, she was
able to finish second, with the best ever finished for
anyone for the US mountain Biking team. But it's not
just that, it's the overall women helping women that made
the story different. During the race, Baton had the added
(32:39):
challenge of a tire puncture, which inevitably caused a huge
delay for her. Third place winner, Jenny Reyesvevs actually assisted Baton,
and here's a bit from Nbcolympics dot com. I was
so lucky that Jenny Rizvez was behind me, Baton said.
The writers passed me on the jump when I had
to take the bee line, and she quickly shouted out
to my mechanic. Haley has a flat so he was ready.
(33:03):
It shows how amazing our sport is and what an
incredible athlete she is and writer in person. My mechanic
did the fastest will change ever and with the support
of Wezved, Baton's medal chances went from bleak to hopeful
in a matter of seconds. And if you go on
to look at the article from Nbcolympics dot Com, you'll
see a wonderful picture of the two of them hugging
(33:23):
at the finish line. Baton goes on to say more
about the support for each other. I think that the
most beautiful part of the sport is that you can
be on that start line together and I think, honestly,
we want to make each other stronger. Baton said, you
give your best fight, I'll give my best fight, and
you know, the stronger writer will win. I think it
(33:44):
makes those battles so much more rewarding when we both
put our heart into it and we did it the
right way, and she went above and beyond to help me,
And how tough it was to get a flat in
that moment, especially at the Olympic Games. To make that
a little bit easier was incredible. So we love these stories.
I do know that Baton did get a fine apparently
like five hundred and something dollars because they went to
(34:06):
the wrong place to change the higher I guess there's
regulations on where you can do this, but they didn't
strip her of the metal, so she still went out
with a silver. Of course, that conversation went to had
she not gotten that puncture, would she have won the
doop doope. But with that, it does show her endurance
being able to catch up and proceed to getting the
silver again. I love stories like this where you see
(34:30):
them actually being sportsmen like and not just getting all
out about winning. So it was a beautiful story. We
had to include that. Love more stories like this. Honestly,
the gymnasts watching the gymnasts supporting each other, and I'm
talking about from different countries like I've seen like China
being No, I have to watch Simone Biles. I have
to see what she's doing. I want to get like
(34:51):
and honestly, on TikTok, there's so many things about the pins,
everybody exchanging their pins and trying to get all of them.
It's the cutest thing seen in a long time. It
reminds me of your love of the Friendship bracelets and
Taylor Swift. So but I was like, Oh, this is
really really, really adorable, and I love that all the
athletes are really one hundred and ten percent in in
(35:12):
trying to collect these pins.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, and I do.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I was actually my friends about it because we were
watching the Olympics together and I never like, I want
you to fail unless you're complete douche that I know
outside of the Olympics, but like, generally I want you
to succeed. When I'm watching the gymnastics, I'm like, I
(35:35):
know you've worked hard to be here. I want you
to succeed. I'm not like hoping you're going to fall.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
And so I do. I like seeing that too.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Within the competitors of you know you do you still
want to win, You're going to do your best to win,
but you're not like sitting there.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Oh, I hope she breaks her life.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Oh my god, like nineties speakure skating world.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Uh huh, hey, memories, memories. There's been drama, drama, right.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And there's a lot of conversations to be had with
the good and the bed. We know there's a lot
of protests happening, and we support that as well. We
know when it comes to events like this that oftentimes
the marginalized people's in that community are oftentimes forgotten and
or pushed aside purposely. And that's a conversation that always
(36:31):
needs to happen because we know how much money this
can make a city, which is why they've bit for
it or an organization, which we already kind of mentioned,
and the fact that none of it really goes back
to giving to that community in itself is abhorrent. So
I think there's a lot to be talked about. We've
talked about this repeatedly and both those things like you
(36:51):
want to enjoy this because it does feel like it's
something that unice but at the same time, does it
is it more greedy than not? Who knows? But having
stories that talk about people's heart and love for the
competition does feel like it's something to be noted in
that we need to recognize the hard work.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yes, yes, absolutely absolutely I did, Like I watched I
got to watch the gymnastics All Around final vive.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Yesterday, which was cool.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, and I did like how one of the commentators,
who was a woman, she kept saying like, listen, this
is so hard, even if you're watching it and you're like, oh,
she fell, this is like the hardest thing.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
I like actually kept reiterating like.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Was it Laurie Hernandez, past Olympic competitor who everybody is
loving because she has been hired who was a US JO. Yeah, yeah,
she might've been hard because she knows absolutely one hundred
and ten thousand percent knows the adverts that they are pudding.
I also love right now there's a TikTok trend of
like people who have dabbled in gymnastic sort do competitions
(38:01):
and putting up there like fails and being like the
reason I didn't qualify and dives so oh the dives
like painful.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Oh gosh, the dives.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Yes, that's also become a whole like fan fiction trope
with a women dive synchronized diving teams.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
If you think I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
As like their name and itself just brought out all
the puns. But the Chinese synchronized swimmers, there's tails, there's
tails all.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Well, there are tales, and there are more tales to
be told. We'll definitely do a wrap up when the
Olympics come to an end it, but in the meantime, please, yeah,
if you have any thoughts, if you have anything you
think we should talk about or focus on. If you're
from a different country and you're like, this is what
it's like where I am, we would love to.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Hear from you.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
You can email us at Steph Mediamom, Steph at iHeartMedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at most
of the podcasts, or on Instagram and to talk at
stuff one Never Told You.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
We're else on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
We have a tea public store, and we have a
book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always to our super produced Christine and our executive
producer and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to
you for listening. Stuff on Never Told You is production
of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
you can check out the heart Radio app Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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