Why Katie Ledecky鈥檚 gold represents something bigger at the Games
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Noah Robertson Staff writer
| Tokyo
Katie Ledecky, perhaps the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, has dominated the women鈥檚 1,500-meter freestyle for the better part of a decade. At one point this week, she held the 11 fastest times in its history. Her world-record time is 18 seconds ahead of the second-fastest finisher.聽
But until Wednesday, Ms. Ledecky didn鈥檛 have an Olympic medal in the event. For decades, the 1,500-meter was only available to men.
After a disappointing 200-meter final, Ms. Ledecky had an hour to rally herself for the mile-long race. When she entered the pool again, it wasn鈥檛 close. She spent the entire race multiple lengths ahead of the competition, and finished four seconds ahead of second-place Erica Sullivan, her teammate.聽
Why We Wrote This
By some measures, the Tokyo Games are the most gender-equal Olympics in history. But female athletes caution there鈥檚 still a long way to go before they鈥檙e given the same opportunities 鈥� and respect 鈥� as their male peers.
鈥淚鈥檓 so happy to go one-two there with Erica on the first women鈥檚 mile,鈥� Ms. Ledecky said right after the race. 鈥淐an鈥檛 have a better outcome than that.鈥�
Her gold marked a personal triumph during a difficult week, including her fifth-place finish in the 200-meter 鈥撀爃er first Olympic finish off the podium. But the medal聽鈥� and the race itself聽鈥� also marked a symbolic victory for female athletes at the Games. The women鈥檚 1,500-meter had never before featured at the Olympics, which has a long history of restricting women from long-distance events. The women鈥檚 marathon, for instance, wasn鈥檛 added until the 1984 Summer Olympics.
With just under 49% of all athletes being women, the Tokyo Games are the most gender-balanced in history. Its most famous contenders, such as Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, are women. Its most dominant teams, such as U.S. women鈥檚 water polo, are as well. Once a rarity, mixed-gender events in sports such as swim relays and table tennis are becoming more common. More than ever, women at the Olympics are calling for equal treatment.
Yet even as the Paris Games in 2024 promise more progress toward gender equality, hurdles for female athletes remain steep. Symbolism and statistical progress are welcome, but numbers can hide as much as they reveal, says Michelle O鈥橲hea, a senior lecturer in marketing and sport at Western Sydney University. A litany of controversies coming just before the Games 鈥� from gendered uniforms to sexist comments 鈥� displays a culture still in need of reform.聽
The circumstances leave female Olympians in a familiar spot, says Professor O鈥橲hea: somewhere between celebration and lamentation. The Olympic Games have made great strides in gender equity since their founding, she adds, but the only way to make sure those continue is to stay active.
鈥淲e want to celebrate the wins and we want to celebrate the change,鈥� says Professor O鈥橲hea. 鈥淏ut ... we鈥檝e still got to do better.鈥�
Long road
Still, in the Olympics鈥� 125-year history, there鈥檚 never been a better time for women at the Games.
Pierre de Coubertin, architect of the modern Olympics, intended the competition to celebrate masculine athletic prowess. 鈥淎n Olympiad with females,鈥� he once said, 鈥渨ould be impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and improper.鈥�
While women competed in the second modern Olympics in 1900, men dictated their participation. Permitted competitions included tennis and croquet, both considered delicate and properly feminine. For decades, organizers barred women from long-distance competitions, fearing the strain would be too much.聽
Even now, athletes say they鈥檙e challenged to dismantle that culture.
Today, nearly two-thirds of International Olympic Committee members are men. While the athletes鈥� gender balance may almost be equal, coaches and trainers are still disproportionately male. Media coverage, per a Cambridge University analysis of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, can amplify inequities by infantilizing female athletes 鈥� or focusing on their marriages to male competitors.
German gymnasts wore full-length leotards this week, protesting the sexualization of female athletes.聽The first head of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee resigned after suggesting women talk too much in meetings. Five-time Olympian Allyson Felix and other mothers at the Games had to . Australian swimmer Maddie Groves stepped away from the sport, .
Yet 鈥渋n spite of all the things that have gone wrong and all the areas that we still need to improve upon, I feel like the pace of change has accelerated in the last five years,鈥� says Sarah Duffy, also a senior lecturer of marketing and sport at Western Sydney University and Professor O鈥橲hea鈥檚 colleague.聽
Once disproportionately allocated to men鈥檚 sports, prime-time broadcast slots are now . Almost every nation appointed a male and female flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Naomi Osaka, an iconic athlete in a country that still ranks low in gender equality, lit the Olympic cauldron.聽聽
鈥淚t always takes that first person鈥�
That progress, in large part, is a product of athletes who have accepted its costs.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate that there鈥檚 this process ... that we have to go through,鈥� said U.S. flag bearer and basketball veteran Sue Bird.
An athlete or team protests inequity and meets resistance from organizers, she added, only to see the inequity addressed years later. Reform comes, but those who helped force it rarely experience its benefits.
鈥淚t always takes that first person or that first team to stand their ground,鈥� said Ms. Bird. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 know why it has to be that way.鈥�
One 鈥渇irst鈥� in Tokyo is women鈥檚 featherweight boxing, a weight class added just this year. Until 2012, women weren鈥檛 allowed to box in the Olympics at all, and the sport鈥檚 foothold has grown at each Games since.聽
鈥淭he equality between both male and female has come a long way,鈥� said American featherweight Yarisel Ramirez after being eliminated in the round of 32. Being here 鈥渋s a good, prime example ... that us women are just as equal as the men.鈥�
Back at the pool, finishes like Ms. Sullivan鈥檚 set an example as well.聽
On Wednesday, she cut several seconds off her qualifying time from Sunday, finishing four seconds behind Ms. Ledecky in the 1,500-meter final.
It was a difficult year training in Ms. Sullivan鈥檚 native Nevada. At one point during the pandemic, she swam in a neighbor鈥檚 single-lane 25-meter pool. At another, she and her team trained in the swampy waters of Lake Meade, emerging covered in bug bites. She鈥檇 never finished so close to Ms. Ledecky, an idol of hers, and didn鈥檛 expect to in the 1,500-meter final, either.
But for Ms. Sullivan 鈥� the daughter of a Japanese immigrant, and who identifies as queer 鈥� a silver medal is a symbolic victory for a new generation of American athletes, who look and act different than Olympians of the past. That generation, she says, has a new vision of equality.
鈥淕etting to be on the podium in Japan as an Asian American woman and getting to take silver in a historical women鈥檚 event ... it鈥檚 so cool,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just so cool.鈥�
