Wednesday 7 September 2016

So about that time bowling made the Olympics and women's water polo didn't

My mom tells this story to me and my sister every two years or so. It is probably the best way to convey how female athletes are treated in ways that can really hurt them. A bit about my mom before this: she is the fourth of six kids, five of them girls. She was the one who held buffalo board up on the outside of the new addition on their house at 15. That's my mom. She also was a very good water polo player, one of the best in Canada and on the national team for a few years before she had kids. Canada was one of the best teams in the world. She never went to the Olympics because women's water polo did not become an Olympic sport until 2000.

Understand this, water polo has been an Olympic sport since 1900. That is 100 years before women could play in the Olympics. In 1988 there was the chance that women's water polo would be a demonstration sport meaning it is played to promote the sport and does not have full medal standing. My mom was not against this, she just wanted to go to the Olympics. It was never named a demonstration sport; my mom was devastated. Bowling made the Olympics as a demonstration sport and women's water polo did not. Remember that this was 88 years after men's water polo made its Olympic debut. My mom was 26. The Seoul Olympics remain the only Olympics my mom did not watch because she was too heartbroken.

There is a lot to be said about women's sports and equality. The most important part is that women should be given the same opportunity as men. Women should be allowed to compete in the same sports as men at the Olympics if possible. Water polo is not a sport that women can compete against men in, but by 1988 there was enough depth internationally to let women compete in the Olympics. They decided against it and the results for at least one athlete were that of devastation. Most of the builders of women's water polo in Canada never got play in the Olympics. Their dream was never able to be realized because...well no one knows why.

When FINA/IOC does not have the women swim the 1500m freestyle for some reason, it matters. When Canada goes home from the Olympics with a bunch of female medalists, including three of the four Olympic champions, it matters. It matters because while women have long since been allowed to play, they are rarely allowed to play on an equal playing field with men. Just ask my mom about 1988, Seoul, and the time that bowling made the Olympics and women's water polo didn't.


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