Women and the Olympics
It is seven long years till Olympics 2000 finally hit the sports stadiums of Sydney. But unless there are some rule changes in the meantime, women will be excluded from many events, including baseball, water-polo, modern pentathlon, ice hockey, weight-lifting, bobsleigh, boxing and some track and field events.
Women are also barred from competing in a 1500 metres swimming event, even though they hold the world records for long distance swimming.
The early pioneers of women's sport were confined to the stands of the first Olympics in 1896. Hardly surprising, given that Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, defined them as "the solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, and female applause as a reward".
Four years later, women were allowed to compete only in golf and tennis. Gradually the events open to women have increased over the last century. By 1968, as the women's liberation movement was stirring women from all walks of life, Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic flame.
Discrimination against women in sport continues at a number of levels, though it varies from country to country. Rosa Mota won the 1992 World Cup Marathon, yet when she first started training at home in Portugal, she was stoned as she ran through the streets. An Algerian woman who won gold at Barcelona in the 1500 metres was not even allowed to train in her own country.
Sports editors, journalists and the stories they run, are usually by men and about men (or horses and dogs). In general, women in sport are not considered "newsworthy". In Britain, Sally Gunnell, the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at Barcelona and the darling of the British media, promptly fell out of favour when she argued for equal pay for women in sport.
Despite the occasional high profile sportswomen in tennis and the hype around Olympic medal winners every four years, women are still denied equal opportunities in pay, access to sports, media coverage and sports administration.
In October the European Women in Sport working group met in Bratislava. Margaret Talbot, the group's chair, stated, "Sport is one of the most conservative areas of European society." Sporting institutions set up in the 19th century "were set up by men for men. Women are excluded from places where decisions about sport are made."
By Catherine Brown