Ross Robinson
Special to Niagara Now/The Lake Report
I have had it with the obvious demeaning of our female athletes.
Volleyball, the indoor version, is my favourite sport to watch. I have seen, live and in colour, the women’s indoor volleyball gold medal games at the Munich and Montreal Olympics, and the 2015 Pan Ams in Toronto. Niagara College, Brock U, high school, gimme more.
The athleticism, the positivity, the variety of required skills, the “no big money here” pureness, the respect for the umpires and other players. Volleyball (and rugby) are my fave sports to watch, though I have never played either one.
Demeaning our female athletes, you say?
What’s with the skimpy, leer-encouraging outfits worn by women beach volleyballers, water polo players and gymnasts?
Just so you know, I am a middle-aged gentleman who sincerely appreciates the various contours of the female body. In fact, before the ongoing deadly global pandemic anchored me in NOTL, I enthusiastically attended nine consecutive Caribana parades and some of the attendant festivities in Toronto.
My pal Larry Sartor and I absolutely love Caribana. We set up a tent and sell sunscreen and iced water to the overheated ladies and gentlemen dancers and prancers. It is the most enthusiastic, prideful, “comfortable in your skin” event possible. Everybody is so, so proud and happy.
Back to my ramble about skimpy bathing suits in sports. Women’s beach volleyball is incredibly athletic, but only this year are people starting to rebel against the ridiculous outfits the athletes are forced to wear. The television camera angles focus on the south ends of the ladies when they are facing north.
The bottoms are almost thong-like and I am surprised no company has purchased the rights to tattoo their logo on the buttocks of the players. Nike, Coke, Mercedes-Benz, Emirates?
Probably just a matter of time, eh? The male beach volleyballers wear tasteful shorts and tops, and gymnast women from Germany are now wearing full-leg tights instead of revealing, sexualized gear.
Ah, change, it is never easy. We should encourage change. As a result, more co-ed sports made their Olympic debut in Tokyo.
As a man, I feel weird complaining about skimpy female outfits, but enough is enough. Let's focus on the magnificent athletic skills of these women.
Seriously, folks, it’s time. Let’s end the leering and sexualization. These women are high-performance athletes.
*****
Penny Oleksiak, Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, among others, also are superb athletes – and they have won armloads of medals at the Olympic Games in swimming events.
While they are inspiring and awesomely talented, I am not sure it is really fair to consider them the “greatest Olympians ever” or the “most decorated.”
But, along with gymnasts, they participate in a sport that allows them to compete in multiple events at each Games: 100-metre freestyle, 200-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, individual medley, butterfly, backstroke, various disciplines and distances, etc. They get a lot more chances to succeed. Lucky for them, eh?
Let’s imagine other sports offering multiple medal opportunities for one athlete. How about in rowing, a 200-metre distance, a 1,000-metre race and a 2,000-metre event?
This year’s Canadian chef de mission, Marnie McBean, and her late partner Kathleen Heddle won three Olympic rowing gold medals each, over multiple Olympiads. But they had a very limited number of opportunities. Or Canada's Damian Warner, competing in the 10 events of the decathlon, but only having one shot at a medal. His was gold.
Perhaps some perspective beyond sheer numbers of medals is in order when we consider labels like “greatest ever.”
*****
And, on a totally unrelated, note: They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
Since the ongoing deadly global pandemic hit us some 18 months ago, it sometimes seems that every third vehicle on the streets of our wee town is red, with the NOTL corporate logo painted on the driver's side front door.
Pick-up trucks, cargo vans, SUVs, fire trucks, passenger cars, snow plows, bylaw enforcement, garbage trucks, and on and on. Is the total number of NOTL town vehicles really 40-plus?
Either way, that's a lot o' NOTL vehicles.
