I may be wrong, but I believe that earning an Olympic medal is extremely hard. Years of training, a natural gift, blood, sweat, and tears are all part of an olympian's journey to be in their best shape to compete. For a male olympian, he seems to get all the credit. For a male that has earned a gold medal, he will seem to get the focus and attention that is deserved: news headlines, interviews, et cetera.
Thus far in Rio, female athletes are not seeming to receive the same attention. They get credit for winning a gold, silver, or bronze medal, but not in the same nature. Often female attention is deflected by the media onto their partner. This has been widely publicized in two such cases so far, and people have lashed out at the ridiculousness of downplaying a female's talent and victory by drawing attention to their husbands.
The Chicago Tribune originally posted an article celebrating Corey Cogdell-Unrein's bronze medal without even including Corey's name in the headline. The headline was simply Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics. Instead, she was referred to as wife. A possessive noun that instead put emphasis on her husband, a Bears' lineman. Yes, Corey is wife but she is also Corey Cogdell-Unrein, who earned a bronze medal in women's trap shooting, and it would have been easy enough to just write her name. Thankfully, the Chicago Tribune did change the headline, yet it is frustrating to see that an article about Corey's achievement did not use her name in the headline.
A similar situation happened when Katinka Hosszú broke a world record and won gold in the 400 meter individual medley. Yes, you read that right. She broke a world record and her husband was practically given all the credit. Katinka's husband, Shane Tusup did coach her. Yes, he definitely had an impact on her and her swimming prior to Rio. Yes, he was completely freaking out and expressive while she was swimming. However, the announcers practically gave him credit for teaching her how to swim. (Not really, but you get the point.) All that needs to be said is that Katinka Hosszú just won and olympic gold medal and shattered a world record. Let's leave it at that next time instead of turning it over to the "man responsible" while a woman was victorious.
Olympic athletes, both male and female, are impressive for the insane training and effort that they put into their preparation. For gold, silver, bronze, and all athletes competing, the recognition is all theirs. No coach, parent, or partner competed in their place. Let's hope that the media realizes this, and how their comments impact viewers, readers, and the athletes themselves.
