The Olympic games are an opportunity for countries across the world to make connections, come together and present their strongest athletes for some friendly competition. Every two years during summer or winter, the best of the best give it their all in an attempt to take home the gold.
While the Olympics are often a unifying time, the event as a whole has traditionally been ripe with gender inequality, with some sports flat out lacking female representation. In her Deadspin article, “Why Some Winter Olympic Sports Are ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ For Men Only,” Maggie Mertens explores the intense dichotomy between male and female winter activities. According to Mertens, “Forty-three percent of the 2,952 Olympic athletes in Pyeongchang are women, but in a number of sports, their playing fields are anything but level.”
Take luge for example. The sport consists of lying down on a sled and hurtling downhill at top speeds, which apparently men are more equipped to do than women. The women’s singles event starts where the men’s doubles event starts, and to make matters worse there is no women’s doubles competition.
Skiing is where most of the inequalities are present. Cross-country skiing has different distance requirements for the male and female athletes, with one of the routes essentially cut in half for female competitors. In alpine skiing, the distance overall and the height of the drop are considerably shorter for women, and ski jumping is practically a different sport altogether for the two genders. Female ski jumpers only have the normal hill and are unable to compete on the larger hill or on team events and the qualifying requirements are laughably easy for women when compared with what the men have to do to qualify.
Despite the glaring lack of representation in various sports, women dominated this year’s winter Olympic games. Here are just a few notable female performances from the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.
Courtesy: The New York Times
Mirai Nagasu made history for female figure skaters by landing the first-ever triple axel by a team USA athlete. The move placed Nagasu among only eight other women who have successfully completed the move in competition, and also made her the third woman to ever land it at the Olympics.
“This is definitely history, or herstory, whatever way you want to put it,” Nagasu commented after her performance.
Mirai Nagasu isn’t the only woman to make herstory at this year’s Olympics. The United States cross-country female skiing team won their first-ever gold medal on Feb. 21. Teammates Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall took home the gold for their country after Diggins crossed the finish line seconds before the contestant from Sweden.
Courtesy: CBS News
Before this year, it had been 42-years since an American team had won gold in cross-country skiing. By ending the drought since Bill Koch in 1976, Diggins and Randall not only made history for the United States, but are also working to close the gap between men and women in cross-country skiing.
The United States was definitely not the only country making herstory at the winter Olympics this year. South Korea’s female curling team have won the hearts of everyone and are taking over the Internet. The “Garlic Girls,” as their fans lovingly call them, are a global sensation and could easily be considered the rock stars of the Pyeongchang Olympics. The childhood friends are known for their breakfast-food inspired nicknames and their smiling faces, but their skills on the ice are what really make them stand out.
Courtesy: Quartz
South Korea didn’t even have an Olympic curling team until 2014, so the fact that the Garlic Girls were in the top spot in the tournament semifinal is wildly impressive. “We found out we made history, but we’re not satisfied with only just this,” team member MinJung Kim stated after defeating the U.S. team. “We feel like we want to give back to the spectators and all of the Korean crowd because of the support they are giving us.”
Women on every team at the 2018 winter Olympics were breaking through boundaries and making history, which shows young girls across the world that anything is possible. MinJung Kim made a statement that I would argue is true for every female Olympic athlete: “We have made a lot of effort to be in this position.”