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100m men’s final vs 100m women’s final

Whilst the women’s marathon was headline grabbing for all the right reasons, the men’s 100m final was not. To great fanfare, the men’s 100m final was heralded. Dimmed lights in the Stade du France, wristbands alight; music, hype, anticipation – this was all for the men’s 100m final. Had the women’s final in the same event received the same build up the night before? No it had not. There might be gender parity but there certainly wasn’t event parity.

Countries’ firsts

However, let’s forget the hype around staging – or lack of – and congratulate Julien Alfred, the fastest woman on the planet! She won St Lucia’s first ever gold medal which is amazing! But there were many firsts at these games for men and women including Thea LaFond for Dominica in the triple jump and Lin Yu-Ting winning Taiwan’s first boxing gold.

Boxing Not So Clever

Women’s boxing became ugly at the Paris Olympics due to disputes over gender. Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Yu-Ting of Taiwan came under incredible scrutiny due to misinformation despite passing all of the IOC’s gender tests. Like Yu-Ting, Imane Khelif won gold becoming the first Algerian, Arab and African woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. Congratulations to Imane and Lin!

Gymnastics at the Paris Olympics

While there were many sat at home with opinions on the women’s boxing, gymnastics performances had to be analysed and assessed within a minute, we’ve all learnt. Jordan Chiles and her USA team fell foul of this according to Team Romania with Chiles ultimately losing the bronze to Romanian gymnast Barbosu. It seems as though procedures were not followed by several gymnastic bodies and its the gymnasts that are suffering. Four years of hard work to end like this is hard to swallow.

On the flip (side), a memorable moment of the Games came when Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won her country’s first Olympic gold medal for gymnastics on the floor. That is momentous enough – another first! – but Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing down to her as she took to the podium is a wonderful demonstration of women supporting women. They were also celebrating the first medal ceremony made up of three Black women which is definitely worth celebrating.

These are just some of our Games notable moments for women’s sport, good and bad but there are many, many more great ones. What’s yours?

Bring on the Paralympics!