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Gender disparities still vex Tokyo Olympic Games – BBC News

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At the first Olympic Games of the modern era, Athens 1896, International Olympic Committee (IOC) founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin barred women from competing.

In Paris four years later, 22 female athletes were invited in five ladies sports, while nearly 1,000 men took on the rest of the events.

This year, the Games have nearly reached gender parity.

Of the almost 11,000 Olympic athletes in Tokyo almost 49% are women, according to the IOC, marking the first “gender-balanced” games in its history.

At the Paralympics, at least 40.5% of athletes will be women, the IOC said, with about 100 more female athletes than in Rio de Janiero in 2016.

But 125 years after the first Olympics, the games are still clouded by missteps and hasty corrections relating to gender, underscoring the distance left to go.

Here’s a look at some of the challenges faced by female Olympians, before they can even go for the gold. Representatives of the IOC did not respond to a request for comment.

Post-partum disqualification

Mandy Bujold, 33, is one of the best female flyweight boxers in the world.

An 11-time Canadian national champion with two Pan-American Games titles, she was ranked eighth in the world in 2018 when she took a break from boxing to give birth to her daughter, Kate Olympia – or KO.

She planned her comeback for Tokyo – a plan that was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Boxing’s qualifying events were cancelled and the IOC’s boxing task force turned instead to three tournaments in 2018 and 2019, when Ms Bujold was pregnant or postpartum and not competing.

Ms Bujold was forced to fight for her spot outside the ring, taking on boxing’s international body in court.

Weeks before the games began, Ms Bujold won with a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international body in Switzerland, that said accommodation must be made for women who are pregnant or postpartum during the qualifying period.

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“My Olympic dream is still intact,” she said. “It was one of the biggest fights of my career, but also the fight with the most meaning.”

However, advocates say Ms Bujold’s pre-Olympic fight is clear evidence of the gender gap.

“Sport has been built, designed and organised for male participants,” said Cheryl Cooky, a professor of gender studies at Purdue University and editor of Sociology of Sport Journal.

When exceptions are made, “it’s considered a ‘special’ accommodation” – another way of saying that women’s sports are “less” than men’s, she said.

A back-and-forth on breastfeeding

As part of the Games’ Covid-19 safeguards, the IOC barred all athletes’ family members from traveling to Tokyo.

For Kim Gaucher, a Canadian basketball player, the rule meant a choice between her third Olympic Games and her infant daughter.

“Right now I’m being forced to decide between being a breastfeeding mom and an Olympic athlete, I can’t have them both,” Ms Gaucher said in a video posted to Instagram in June.

The IOC initially denied Gaucher’s formal appeals, saying it was unlikely that any “unaccredited people from overseas” would be allowed to attend.

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Tokyo’s organisers reversed themselves three weeks ahead of the Games following Gaucher’s video plea and mounting public pressure.

“That is not acceptable. Infants are not fans, they’re not ‘unaccredited persons’, they’re children with needs,” said Nicole M LaVoi, the director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. “You can’t claim to value and respect women and give that lip service and then have a misstep like this.”

And both Ms LaVoi and Ms Cooky said that incidents like this place an asterisk alongside women’s sports, reinforcing the idea that the field is not really meant for them.

The IOC’s gender imbalance

While IOC has made gender parity a priority for Olympic athletes, that standard has not been applied the IOC itself.

Women make up 33.3% of its executive board, and 37.5% of committee members overall are female.

“We’ve never had a woman as the president of the IOC, ever,” Ms LaVoi said. “That’s telling.”

And in recent months, some of the men in charged have undermined the IOC’s message of commitment to gender equality.

In February, the president of the Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee was replaced after remarking publicly that women speak too much in meetings. One month later, the creative director of the Games’ opening ceremony stepped down after it was revealed he had mocked a plus-size fashion designer for her appearance.

This week, the Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates sparked criticism following a bizarre exchange with the premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszuck, in which Mr Coates ordered Ms Palaszuck to attend the opening ceremony.

Advocates say that as long as the IOC remains male-dominated – “a good old boys club”, said Ms LaVoi – female athletes will be left at a disadvantage.

In the meantime, gender progress at the Olympics will be spotty – marred by the types of challenges faced by Mandy Bujold and Kim Gaucher.

“Would these even be controversies if the people in the room weren’t majority men?” Ms Cooky said. “I don’t think so.”

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Dolphins will bring in another quarterback, while Tagovailoa deals with concussion

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September 13, 2024

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.

For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.

“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.

“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.

McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.

“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”

Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.

Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.

“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”

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Alouettes receiver Philpot announces he’ll be out for the rest of season

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September 13, 2024

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Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.

The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.

“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.

Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.

The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.

Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

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David Lipsky shoots 65 to take 1st-round lead at Silverado in FedEx Cup Fall opener

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September 13, 2024

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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.

Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.

After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.

“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”

Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.

“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”

Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.

Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.

Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.

Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.

Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.

Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.

Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.

Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.

Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.

Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.

That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.

“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”

Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.

Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.

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