Female Olympians should inspire us all

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August 17, 2012

Female Olympians should inspire us all

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Fri Aug 17, 2012, 03:25 AM EDT

The London Summer Olympics have been called the Olympics of the Woman. And rightfully so. For the first time, every nation participating in the Games had at least one female athlete competing. And for many nations _ including the United States, China and Russia _ women earned more medals than their male counterparts.

The women competitors included Tahmina Kohistani, Afghanistan's only woman at the Games, who, according to a story in The Washington Post, had to convince her family and her country it was acceptable for a Muslim woman to leave her home and compete in the Olympics.

Facing ridicule and scorn, she ran the 100-meter dash as a way to inspire girls to reach beyond the confines of traditional Muslim culture. The Islamic nations of Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar also fielded female athletes for the first time.

Unfortunately, inspiring stories such as these were drowned out amid the torrent of tweets about the state of American gymnast Gabby Douglas' hair, or accusations that Douglas was unpatriotic because one of the leotards she wore in competition was pink, not red, white or blue. These people seem to forget that Douglas is 16 years old, left her family in Virginia to move to Iowa to pursue her Olympic dreams and received two gold medals, including the first all-around gold medal won by an African-American female gymnast.

And rather than talk about the strength of will and work ethic needed by American Kerri Walsh Jennings to return to win her third gold medal in beach volleyball with partner Misty May-Treanor after having two children, more was made of the skimpy uniforms that she and others wore during the competition.

Added to this are the many comments about Lolo Jones, namely the story by New York Times sports writer Jere Longman, who spent way too much time on a tirade about the hurdler's beauty and lack of talent. If he was irate about the excessive coverage of Jones, he, as a writer, could have chosen to bring attention to others he felt had more ability. Instead, he decided to degrade Jones for being a 30-year-old devout Christian woman and a virgin.

We should laud the efforts and abilities of these amazing female athletes. They have dedicated their lives and made many sacrifices to achieve their dreams of being able to represent their countries at the Olympics.

Rather than focus on superficial details and worn-out stereotypes, we should be highlighting their talents and achievements. We could learn a thing or two from them _ like how to become stronger, healthier and more confident in who we are as individuals. That would truly be honoring the Olympic spirit.