The Rio Olympic games are far from just beginning. With more and more days of competition comes an increasing number of medals won. As each athlete wins their respective medals, they deserve to bask in the glory of their crowning moment. Headlines will appear, pictures will be taken, and names will be remembered. Well, if the athlete happens to be male anyway. Today, the amount of women competing in the Olympics is much greater than it used to be (especially seeing as at one point the could not compete at all). However, the recognition they receive is minimal compared to the praise of the men. Here are just a few examples.
1. Corey Cogdell
Corey won a bronze medal in trap shooting for the second time for the United States (she also won the bronze in 2008). Winning two medals in two different Olympics is an incredible accomplishment for any athlete. Her husband also happens to be Chicago Bears defensive end Mitch Unrein. When she won her medal, most of the headlines looked like the one below:
2. Katinka Hosszu
Katinka annihilated her competition in the 400m IM finals. By annihilated I mean she set a world record and finished over four seconds faster (an eternity in swimming) than the second place finisher Mireia Belmonte of Spain. Unfortunately, most people gave the credit to her husband who helped train her after a devastating loss in 2012. I'm not saying he didn't help, but he also didn't swim that race.
3. Oksana Chusovitina
Not only is Oksana a 41-year-old Olympic athlete, but she is competing in gymnastics and in her seventh Olympic Games. Gymnastics is a sport in which Aly Raisman at 22 is at the older end, and pushing the limits competing in two different Olympics. The demands gymnastics places on one's body wears it down so being able to qualify in gymnastics seven times is insane!
4. Rebeka Koha
This Latvian weight lifter is only 18. At this young age, she finished fourth in the 52kg lifting competition in Rio. Not only was she competing against competitors much older than her, but she was also the lightest competitor. This means she has to have a higher muscle amount in order to lift the same amount as heavier competitors.
5. Rafaela Silva
Rafaela won Brazil's first gold medal in the Olympic games. She comes from arguable the poorest city in Brazil, and has definitely overcome hard times. She was a rebellious child and participating in judo kept her off of a long, dangerous road. She also had to beat the top ranked judo competitor in order to win this medal. To nobody's surprise, she was able to overcome the odds once again to win her gold medal.
These are only a few of the women who deserve an immense amount of credit for their athletic ability. They are great, not "good for a girl", but great athletes who deserve their moments in the spotlight as much as any male athlete. So stop taking the credit away from the immense achievements of women everywhere and start believing in the fact that women are athletes too, and deserve to be treated as the individuals they are.
