Women in the Olympics

Women represent more than 49.5% of the world population. Since the beginning of mankind, men seem to be the superior sex. We witness sexism in all fields from jobs, salaries, education, rights, the army, even in sports. Sports have always played a vital role in our societies with major international sporting events such as the world cup and the Olympics. Here, I’m going to shed the lights on the historical aspect of women participating in these Olympics games, linking them to its mini scale, the Mopi games held here in the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi.
During the Ancient Olympic Games only male athletes were allowed to participateWomen were only capable of entering as owners in the equestrian events. In 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, no women competed as de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, felt that their presencewould be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect."
Finally, in 1900, women were able to participate for the first time in the Paris Games in lawn tennis and golf events.  The first woman to win an Olympic medal was the English player,Charlotte Cooper, who won the tennis singles title. Later on, women competed in swimming events for the first time in 1912.The U.S was the only country that did not allow its female athletes to compete in events unless they wore long skirts. Over time more women's events were added. Women's athletics and gymnastics careers debuted at the 1928 Olympics. The number of women athletes increased and reached its peak in 2012With the addition of women's boxing at the 2012 London Games, there are men and women competing in all Olympic sports. However, there are still two sporting disciplines that are solely for women: synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.In addition, in Rio 2016, 44% of medals were awarded in women's events, the highest ever. Whereas, in 1984, the figure was only just over 25%.
Before the London 2012 games, only 3 countries had never sent female athletes which are Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia, until they were forced to, making 2012 the first event with women participating from every single country. 
On the other hand, these games also had a revolutionary aspect. These games are supposed to include every one, all cultures and religions. For instance, the first Arab Muslim woman to claim an Olympic gold medal was Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakelwhen she won the women's 400 meters’ hurdles in Los Angeles in 1984.


Even sports outfits show this big cultural, religious diversity. Ibtihaj Muhammad is an example of this aspect. She is amember of the United States fencing team. She is best known for being the first Muslim American woman to wear a hijab while competing for the United States at the 2016 Summer OlympicsShe earned the bronze medal as part of Team USA in the Team Sabre, becoming the first female Muslim-American athlete to earn a medal at the Olympics.Another example would definitely have to be Egypt, when it made its first Olympic appearance in women’s beach volleyball in 2016 wearing uniforms that upheld both their culture and their love of volleyball. They competed in long-sleeves and long-pants as a sign of respect for Egypt’s Islamic culture of modestywhich is a significant divergence from the bikini-style uniform that has long been associated with the sport.
In fact, if we look closely, we would notice that the big majority of the athletes participating in the MOPI games are actually girls. There is also one veiled contestant, sporting modest attire. This shows the diversity of these games. And we hope that in the near future with the next games even more girls would impose themselves and claim more victories, and that we’d find even more diversity. Finally, we can highlight the fact that even our uniforms for this event turn out to be in the colour pink which represents girl power. And hopefully more liberating advances will be made in women’s lives in the future. 


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