The Olympics have come and gone. It was a historical Summer Olympic this year. With the Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first Latin American country to host the Olympics since 1968 when Mexico held them and the only South American country to be a host. With the Olympics hosted in Rio, it was also surrounded by bad incidents. From US Olympic swimmers reporting a fake robbery to the city host being surround by poverty one thing that was blatantly obvious was the sexism that female Olympians received.
The sexism that occurred over the last 16 days was so obvious yet not surprising. Here are five of the worst offenders.
1. Katinka Hosszú world record and gold medal are because of her husband
Hungarian swimmer accomplished an incredible feat, she set a world record in the 400 meter individual competition and won a gold medal. And of course who is the reason behind her win, yup her husband. Not her months of training or the fact that she is one bad as woman but it is all due to her husband according to one NBC commentator.
2. “Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics” - Chicago Tribune Headline
Corey Cogdell-Unrein won the bronze medal for the United States and also happens to be the wife of the Chicago Bears lineman. This seemed to be more of a relevant and important fact than her being a three-time olympian athlete.
3. Associated Press and the downplay of Katie Ledecky's world record
Katie Ledecky set a world record in women’s 800 - meter freestyle however, that was only second to Micheal Phelps silver medal. To the AP it seemed more appropriate to have Phelps be the major headline instead of Ledeckys world record of 8:04.79.
4. BBC and their amnesia
BBC seems to have forgotten some important facts after seeing Andy Murray win his second gold medal in tennis at Rio. BBC asked Murray how it felt to be the first person ever to win two gold medal. Murray's response, “I think Venus and Serena have won about four each….” Now that is gold medal response.
5. The body shaming of Twitter
And of course we can’t forget about the body shaming that Mexican gymnast Alexa Moreno had to deal with. Who was the culprit? None other than our wonderful and kind Twitter, you know because we can’t forget the internet shaming an olympian.
