These Olympics have, rather like the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, seen their fair share of problems.
The Olympic Village housing seemed unfinished—the entire Australian delegation did not move in upon their arrival, worries floated about concerning Zika virus and a highly contagious equine virus. However, aside from any logistics or health concerns, the biggest concern I have about these games has been some of the reporting on the games.
So far during these games, without even going out of my way, I have seen reporting on problematic commentary on events including swimming, tennis and gymnastics. I first noticed a set of articles about the Hungarian swimmer, Katinka Hosszu, and her husband, Shane Tusup, but this was just the tip of the iceberg. Dan Hicks, an NBC sportscaster, kicked it off with a comment that Tusup, Hosszu’s coach, was “‘the man responsible’” for her success in the 400-meter individual medley event. There has been a decisive upswing in Hosszu’s success since she began training with Tusup, and she herself credits him with helping her become a better athlete, but he was certainly not the one swimming in that pool. An article by a Huffington Post reporter , Lee Moran, summed up a number of unfortunate reporting moments. Twitter users, thankfully, were not about to let Hicks get away with that and many jumped on him. The Daily Mail even picked up on the ridiculous nature of the situation, which truly says something.
The same article that collected tweets about the swimming reportage faux pas also mentioned another media misstep, this time by the Chicago Tribune. Their headline about a a female trap-shooter’s victory gave more space to the shooter’s husband’s status in the NFL than to the woman herself. Finally, the article also mentioned an NBC commentator’s comment that the USA women’s gymnastics team looked like they “‘might as well be standing in the middle of a mall’” when seen laughing and talking to one another after a very successful qualifying round. They were at the Olympics. How in the world does anything they do seem like they are at a mall? What about the other athletes who were milling about and likely talking or laughing with one another? With just a few choice words, or perhaps poorly chosen ones, the commentator reduced the accomplishments of the women as athletes and people. Although they were far and away the best team in the qualifying round, there is something remarkably distasteful in the commentator’s implied message that he feels himself superior to teenage girls who go to malls. If laughter and talking amongst friends, either at the Olympics or at a mall, are to be condemned, then Heaven help us all.
There was also a ridiculous reaction to a female BBC reporter’s choice of clothing: a romper showed much of her legs. It should also be noted that a man sitting with her to comment on the swimming events was wearing shorts that were relatively short and his legs could be seen just as hers could. The BBC presenter, Helen Skelton-Myler, got responses on Twitter ranging from “put that pen down ffs and wear some knickers” to the less overtly ugly but no less bad, “Not one to follow the Olympics BUT… @HelenSkelton has changed my mind, those legs!!” Other users thankfully generated a much larger volume of tweets to drown out such unwanted ones as these, but why were such messages even typed in the first place?
How, in 2016, are we still so rooted in a sexist, male-dominated society? How is it that any woman who so much as exists in public—such as the female USA gymnasts or Skelton-Myler—puts herself out to be judged? Answer: she has not done any such thing and to say a woman has is despicable. Thankfully people are out there writing articles and calling out other users on social media, but how is the world still so stuck on appearances and so unwilling to recognize the actual accomplishments of women as they do great things.
