2020 Tokyo Olympics: All About Women
I was at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with someone dear to me, and we watched the American women win the gold in gymnastics. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for the first time, nearly as many women will be competing for glory as men. About 49% of the athletes are women, made possible by the addition and subtraction of some sports.
Unlike the routine, widely watched major sports that are dominated by men, such as baseball, basketball, cricket, and football, at the Olympics, sports enthusiasts like me pay attention to competitions in a gender-neutral way. Attention goes to athletes closer to home whose stories we follow and to must-watch super stars from all over the world. Male or female, the competitions are exciting, and we get engrossed in them equally.
The Olympics is a celebration of all athletes, those who win medals and those who compete and fall short by fine margins. While the wealth and opportunities in many sports are nowhere nearly the same for all nations and all peoples, the Olympics lets us get a glimpse of the potential in all of us, individually and together.
Two women bore the weight of their nations and won medals in weightlifting. Hidilyn Diaz won the first ever gold medal for the Philippines in 55kg category, ending the nation’s 97-year drought. Mirabai Chanu won the silver in a the 49kg category for India, lifting a nation of over a billion to joy on the first day of the Olympics. Both overcame injuries and endured thoughts of quitting before their Olympic success. Two American teenagers, first Alaskan swimmer, Lydia Jacoby, 17, and first Hmong gymnast Suni Lee, 18, won gold medals and surprised the world. We will celebrate them and many others.
Perhaps the central story line of the Tokyo Olympics that endures will be that of the two most visible women who faltered: Naomi Osaka, 23, the Olympics torch bearer of Japan and the winner of four tennis majors and Simone Biles, 24, American gymnast and winner of four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. That two young Black women are the face of their nations, each with many great athletes, shows us how far we have come.
Osaka lost in the third round in tennis at the Olympics, having pulled out of tennis majors earlier in 2021, citing mental health issues. She admitted the pressure was immense. Biles stepped away at the Olympics, also citing mental problems. The dangers of competing in gymnastics without being fully there mentally are apparent. Yet criticism has ensued showing us how much further we will have to go. While Osaka’s mixed heritage and mental toughness are the talking points in the Japanese social media, not putting the country first and quitting are the themes on Biles in America. It is not without mental toughness that Osaka became the only Japanese winner of tennis majors. The most decorated of all gymnasts with 19 golds in the World Championships, Biles, is not weak. The Star-Spangled Banner has had more renditions at the Olympics on her behalf than any other American gymnast.
What Osaka and Biles have done is to bring mental health challenges of athletes to the fore. Children are watching to see how we treat champions in their time of distress. Will we act like adults and live up to their expectations?
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