Pioneer Billie Jean King hails extraordinary progress in women’s sport

PARIS – Tennis champion and pioneer Billie Jean King believes that the focus on gender equity at the Paris Olympics is the latest win in a terrific run of progress for women’s sports.

The 2024 Games are the first to see an equal split of the quota places between female and male athletes, a landmark moment for the Olympic movement that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been chasing for years.

It also marks another high point for women’s sports for advocates such as King, along with the Women’s National Basketball Association in the United States enjoying soaring ratings and the Professional Women’s Hockey League celebrating a successful inaugural year.

“The last two or three, four or five years now – it’s been a real progression. And I really feel fortunate that I’m alive to see this,” King told Reuters.

“I think about the women and the people that cared about us, women’s sports, back in the old days, and they’re not alive today. I wish they were. Because of all the work they did and it couldn’t get any place so much of the time.”

A hundred years after Paris last hosted the Games, when 135 women and 2,954 men competed, King said the IOC is now “showing the world it’s doing the right thing”.

“These Olympics giving so much focus on equality this year is exactly what the dream would be,” said the 80-year-old, who helped the US capture the gold as the country’s Olympic women’s tennis coach in 1996 and 2000.

Also an advocate for female para-athletes, the 12-time Grand Slam winner was quick to note that the Paralympians would want to see the same equity, too.

The Paralympic competition, which kicks off in Paris after the Olympics, is expected to have about a 55 per cent to 45 per cent allocation of spots for men and women, respectively.

Experts say Paralympic athletes still face multiple barriers to achieving the feminist dream.

“That (equality) headline alone isn’t including the Paralympic (community),” said retired Paralympian Alana Nichols, a three-time gold medallist in basketball and alpine skiing.

“There’s an entire group of athletes that aren’t being talked about.”

Nichols felt that not enough women and girls were entering the para-sport pipeline to push the Paralympics to an equal level of gender participation – which again could be attributed to the lack of attention on female athletes.

“It’s kind of this process that happens where women, I think, with disabilities have far less media coverage and access,” the American said. “There are fewer women that are seeing the potential that they could reach.”

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer of the International Paralympic Committee, said there will be 1,860 female slots for the Paris Paralympics, a vast improvement from the 990 available at the 2000 Sydney Games but still unequal between men and women.

“With us, we’re almost dealing with double marginalisation – the marginalisation of persons with disabilities all around the world, and this marginalisation of women as well,” he added.

“So we have that two layers that we’re trying to deal with in certain countries.”

Even so, the progress thus far is satisfying for King five decades after she spearheaded the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association, the first truly global professional sports tour for women.

And as the US in particular embrace the star power of their female athletes, she sees a paradigm shift.

“Finally, we’re looked at as an investment not a charity,” she said.

“Equal at the Olympics sort of sends a new message. It’s a totally different ball game now.” REUTERS