While there have been many recent breakthroughs in narrowing the gender equality gap in sport, there is still much to be done, and the women’s Paralympic cycling course at the Paris 2024 Games is one perfect example of where gender equality still falls short.literally. The women’s C5 road time trial course is half the length of the men’s course. This was reported by BBC Sport..
Sarah Storey, the women’s gold medalist who won the C5 time trial on September 4 with a time of 20 minutes 22.15 seconds, Twitter “I’m very proud to have won this race for the fifth time in a row,” she said, but, according to BBC Sport, she also expressed disappointment that the distance had been shortened.
“It’s the shortest Paralympic time trial ever and I think it’s a real shame that we can’t showcase parasport as well as we would like,” Storey said. The athlete with the most medals in Paralympic historySpeaking to the BBC after his win, 18th (!!) Paralympic Gold Medal(Heidi Gauguin of France won silver in 20:26.84 and Alana Forster of Australia won bronze in 21:00.48. The C5 classification includes athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees and others who can ride a bike.)
Women’s C5 Course Measured 14.1 kilometers,on the other hand, The men’s weight class was 28.3 kg.British athlete Story told BBC Sport that female cyclists are generally at least As in the most recent Paralympic Games prior to the Paris Games, the championship event will be 22 kilometers.
In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the C5 women ran 24km (the C5 men ran 32km), and in the 2016 Rio Olympics, the men’s race was 30km and the women’s was 20km.
Storey said athletes had asked organisers about the shortened distance before the event but received no explanation. Guardian. The media outlet said Paralympic race organisers had decided to shorten the distance of some of the time trial cycling events due to a “busy schedule” of 19 races and the medal ceremony on Wednesday.
Seven men’s road time trial races were run over a distance of two laps, but the women only covered that distance in a single B event for blind racers, BBC Sport reported.
“There’s plenty of time to do two laps like the men do,” Storey told the BBC. “I’ve fought so hard for equality in women’s cycling and it’s a real shame that it’s not happening.”
As a women’s sports advocacy group Sea Race Pointed out Instagram Comment on a post Telegraph, Shortening the course had consequences beyond the race itself: “It was unfair and devalued our incredible female athletes. Half the distance meant half the television coverage, depriving them of the exposure they deserve.”
The choice to have women cycle sprints comes on the heels of positive news about gender equality at the Paralympics, with a record number of female athletes expected to take part in the Paris Games. press release The announcement was made on August 23. An estimated 1,983 women (45% of the total athletes) are set to compete in the Paris Games, significantly more than in Tokyo 2020 (1,846) and more than double the number of women athletes at the Sydney 2000 Games (988).
Still, the shortening of the women’s cycling course highlights that full gender equality in sport is still a long way off.
“I hope this never happens to women again because it’s horrible,” Storey said.
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