Weeks before the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, the fight of the Norwegian women’s beach handball team went viral, although it has been developing for some time. They are the uniforms that they were used to wearing before that triggered their public exposure, since as a protest, the players decided to compete in the European Beach Handball Championship with shorts, which earned them a fine from the European Federation of Handball.
Each Norwegian selected was fined 150 euros, and that is, according to a note from Jenny Gross in The New York Times , “The International Handball Federation requires that women wear bikini bottoms with a snug fit and cut angled up towards the upper leg. The sides of the bikini should not be more than four inches. Men, for their part, can wear shorts up to four inches above the knees, provided that don’t be too baggy”. In contrast, for the men of this discipline the regulation competition uniform is a shorts and a common shirt.
There is no advantage that athletes obtain in their performance by wearing standardized clothing, which is usually shorter than those of their male counterparts, in any of the sports discussed above. The hypersexualization of the woman’s body is a topic that, within sport, is just beginning its exposure.
Vi er kjempestolte over disse jentene som under EM hevet stemmen og ga beskjed om at NOK ER NOK! Vi i NHF står bak dere og støtter dere. Sammen skal vi fortsette å kjempe for å endre regelverket for bekledning, slik at spillerne får spille i det tøyet de er komfortable med! pic.twitter.com/MmfiMtVz2Q
– Norges Håndballforbund (@NORhandball)
July 20, 2021
Mental health, they opened the talk
Without being an exclusive issue for women, the visibility and importance of mental health has been exposed mostly by female athletes. In a few months, the world of sports in general opened up to the conversation thanks to two specific cases, that of Naomi Osaka, a Japanese tennis player of Haitian descent and grown up in the United States – in charge of lighting the Olympic cauldron in Tokyo 2020-, who retired of the most recent Roland Garros and Wimbledon for mental health. And the case of Simon Biles, the American gymnast who also decided to step aside from some of her competitions in Tokyo 2020 to prioritize her mental health.
In both cases, those who were involved are the two best athletes in their disciplines, those who have already settled at the top, where the pressure and the reflectors have no end.
While Osaka was initially fined for deciding not to participate in Roland Garros press conferencesPrioritizing her mental health, Biles was heavily criticized for deciding not to participate in at least three finals of the competition. Days later, Biles said that a relative of his had died while the Olympic Games were taking place, a situation that affected his emotional stability. The harsh criticism he received in Tokyo is totally unjustified, and it is that when the athlete is not concentrated enough in Olympic gymnastics, a bad decision could cost him his life or never walk again. The consequences could be worse than in other disciplines.
After his breaks, Osaka returned to compete precisely in Tokyo 2020, while Biles took the bronze medal on the balance beam.
Simone Biles cheered on her teammates after withdrawing from the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final ❤️
USA Gymnastics said Biles left because of a “medical issue.”
Ultimate teammate 👏 pic.twitter.com/E7AUjgN0xI
– ESPN (@espn)
July 27, 2021
Alexa Moreno, the Mexican gymnast who will receive an Olympic diploma after finishing fourth in horse jumping , returned to address the difficult situation she experienced during Rio 2016, when the constant cyberbullying she received caused her to go into depression. Teasing and opinions about his physical complexion made her doubt everything he had built.
Moreno shared for Katya López, from The Herald of Mexico How music was a fundamental part of the process that meant overcoming that mental and physical bump, the depression that he suffered just after reaching the Olympic dream. She suffered, she retired mentally and now she is back, as the fourth best in the world in her specialty.