Women at the Olympics

I can remember spreading out the pages of the newspaper with the timetable of Olympic events, and  counting all the events in which men could compete, and all the events in which women could compete. About 25% of the events were for women and at that point I decided to boycott watching the Olympics.

It wasn't entirly successful, but it significantly reduce my Olympic viewing - with just a few 'can't miss' events sneaking into my viewing time.

I can remember the first woman who ever ran a marathon. She entered using her initials rather than her name, and people tried to pull her out of the race for fear she would kill herself. I've now seen event after event become open to women. And now for the first time - all Olympic events are open to women, every team has women (although some teams are pretty thin in the female component), and nearly half the athletes are women.

Hey - it's only taken 110 years. And I guess that's a message. When we want change, we have to work at it - often for decades if it's a big change. But unless we put the effort in, it will all stay the same.

Kia kaha