The Olympics fever is building up – after a golden Saturday for Team GB, we bring you more discussion on diversity in sports. Do Team GB’s Saturday gold champions reflect multicultural Britain? What does the participation of the first Saudi woman in Olympics mean? And where have Team GB’s medallists been educated?
With the Olympics now underway, the discussion on diversity in sport is building up – we have published posts on the relationship between sport and race, gender and sexual orientation. There’s more to come – on sport and gender identity, religion and disability.
We came across other similarly interesting posts – the Guardian has done a useful breakdown of Team GB medal winners’ data. Their graphics show medals by sport, sex, education and origin. It is interesting to note that four years ago at the Beijing Olympics, more than half of Team GB’s gold medallists were privately educated. This seems to have changed with almost 68% of Team GB’s medals coming from state-educated athletes this year.
Talking of medals, Saturday was one of the best days for Team GB. Reuters claims the country’s finest Olympic hour reflected the multicultural face of modern Britain. Saturday’s golden trio included Jessica Ennis – daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother, Mo Farah – a Somali immigrant, and Greg Rutherford – great-grandson of an England soccer international.
Finally, we cannot forget to mention the Saudi athlete who made history by becoming the first Saudi woman to compete in the Olympics. After a series of discussions on the permissible form of head covering, an agreement was reached – Sheherkani wore a close fitting black cap instead of a traditional head scarf. Even though she quickly lost the game, Sheherkani’s participation was a big step towards gender equality in sports in Saudi Arabia.
Did you come across anything interesting? Do let us know – Equality.and.Diversity@lse.ac.uk.