- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 1
-
Sparkle (0)
By Nikki Dryden, Canadian Olympic Swimmer and Attorney.
Sport, unlike anything else, brings the world together, has the power to change lives for the better, and is truly universal. “It has an almost unmatched role to play in promoting understanding, healing wounds, mobilizing support for social causes, and breaking down barriers”, says former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who believes that sport has the power to breakdown “myths and prejudices.” He also notes that athletes as well as sports organizations are critical in “unifying societies torn apart by conflict, tackling prejudices...and in breaking down gender inequality.”
Yet here we are in 2011 and women are not equal in the world of Olympic sport...not even close, and all 110 members of the International Olympic Committee (only 17% of whom are women) must be held accountable. Action, not words, must be demanded by athletes and coaches of the world, fans of Olympic sport, and corporate sponsors who lend their name to the Olympic movement. Without true gender equity in sport, the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement makes a mockery of women and their contributions to the world of sport.
On Friday, once again, Ms. Anita DeFrantz head of the Women's Commission at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) named the three countries that have yet to send women athletes to the Olympic Games: Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar. But we have heard this before. She said it in 2010 too – but at the 2010 Olympic Games 19 countries sent men-only Olympic teams to Vancouver.
The list of inequities does not end there. In addition to the many nation-states who do not send women athletes, there still exists unequal sports and events for women athletes at the Olympic Games, there are
an unequal numbers of women participants, an unenforceable sex harassment and abuse policy, and discrimination in gender testing. Add into the mix a disturbing lack of women on executive sporting bodies and in the coaching ranks, and what you have is an IOC and Olympic Movement that does not care about women in reality, but pretends to do so in theory.
Olympic Charter and IOC Send Mixed Messages
Growing up as a young athlete in Victoria, Canada I dreamed of going to the Olympic Games and standing atop the podium. I watched every track and field event at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, recording the results in a special edition copy of Sports Illustrated. I even wrote a glowing report about the Olympic Games, including the founding father of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin. When I turned to swimming, my dreams of gold passed to the pool, but when I actually made the Olympics and competed in them twice, I never realized I had agreed to be led, governed, and judged by the members of the IOC.
I just thought I was swimming, but really I was accepting the Olympic Charter rules and thus reinforcing its status as international customary sports law. By the mere process of having a dream and achieving it, I had contributed to the IOC's status as “chosen agent of the international legal order” of sports. Had I instead chosen in 1992 to read Andrew Jennings book, The Lords of the Rings, I am not sure if I would have accepted this deal. You see no one tells you growing up with dreams of Olympic glory that Mr. de Coubertin did not think my dream worthy. In fact his opinion was that the Olympic Games should “be reserved for the solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, arts for its setting, and female applause as its reward." And I certainly was not told that the IOC systematically discriminates against my gender.
The Olympic Charter, tweaked in 2007, is based on gender equity principles, but the actions of the IOC and the Olympic Movement continuously discriminate based on gender, violating both their own rules and those of the international legal system.
The IOC's role and mission is to promote ethics in sport, and the Olympic Charter lays out specific roles for the IOC, including:
-Placing sport at the service of humanity and promoting peace;
-Acting against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;
-Implementing the principle of equality of men and women in sport at all levels and structures; and
-Promoting a positive legacy from the Olympics to the host cities/countries.
The IOC has tremendous power in world sport. Because of the structure of the Olympic Movement all Olympic sports
