Topend Sports

Women in Sport

Women have long fought for equal rights in sports. There have been some important milestones in the participation of women in world sport.

Women at the Olympics

No women competed at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, as the founder of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin felt that their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and incorrect.". Women first competed at the 1900 Paris Games in lawn tennis and golf. Over time more and more women's sports and events were added. In 2009, the IOC voted to include women's boxing at the 2012 London Games, resulting in for the first time men and women competing in all sports.



Women and Men Competing

Women may have a disadvantage in sports in which physicality (speed, strength, endurance, body size etc.) is a factor, however, there are many sports in which skill is the predominant factor in success, and therefore there is no reason why highly skilled females cannot be competitive against the men.

In sports such as bowling, darts, billiards, where skill is most important, women should be able to be competitive against men. However, in many instances this is not the case, probably due to the much larger number of men playing sport, and therefore having the dominating numbers. This does not rule out the occasional woman who can take them on and win.

woman tennis player woman tennis player

Women beating men at their game?

There have been a few well-publicized events where women have taken on men at sport. In which sports are women better than men? And can they really compete against each other?

Women in Sport Polls



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