WHM: Women in Sports

Megan Rapinoe:
Soccer star Megan Rapinoe and the USWNT as a whole are first up on my list. Winning the World Cup in 2019 and earning a bronze medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games have been the USWNT’s most-covered recent accomplishments, but this team is constantly winning. While they have a long history of success, the team was in the news for something else recently. On February 22, 2022, USWNT finally settled their six-year-long equal pay lawsuit for 24 million dollars. The United States Soccer Federation has committed to an equal pay rate going forward between the men’s and women’s teams. This huge win was spearheaded by Rapinoe herself. As a forward for both the USWNT and NWSL team OL Reign, she has been relentless in her fight for equality. She was also the first active non-black professional athlete to kneel in 2016 in support of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest for racial equality and is an avid LGBTQIA+ rights activist. In her World Cup winning speech in 2019, Rapinoe emphasized the diversity of the USWNT. She mentions that it is made up of black women and white women, straight women, and gay women; everyone is unique, and that, she says, is the beauty of the team. It is all-inclusive with the women bonded by their passion for soccer and their winning mentalities. The equal pay settlement is just the beginning of their quest for equality.

Simone Biles:
Next up is gymnast Simone Biles. Biles is one of the greatest and most dominant gymnasts of all time with seven Olympic and twenty-five world championship medals. She excelled in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio but was in the news during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for a different reason. Biles made the decision to withdraw from team finals,the all-around final, and individual events of vault, floor, and beam. She did earn a bronze medal in the beam final. This choice was extremely controversial. While people looked down on her decision because she had no physical injuries, Biles demonstrated the importance of mental health. She got people talking. The tumbling powerhouse was “scared to do gymnastics,” and recognized the dangers of this mindset. Withdrawing was a preventative measure, not a cowardly one. She showed the entire world that it is okay to take a break. We live in a fast-paced and competitive society; it is one that does not leave time for people to focus on themselves, but Biles’ actions reminded everyone to slow down. Biles has been open about seeking mental health therapy, sharing her journey with the public including the thousands of young gymnasts that look up to her. It is not them who criticize and deride her—they look up to her, and Biles’ openness about her mental health struggles is something they now know about and can recognize within themselves. Biles uses her platform positively to let others understand that mental health is incredibly important. It is something that should never be overlooked even on the world’s biggest stage.

Naomi Osaka:
Tennis powerhouse Naomi Osaka is next up on my list. As a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, she is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles and has won both the US and the Australian Open. She is also an avid activist for racial equality but is unique in her approach. While Megan Rapinoe and others are outspoken about their disapproval of the inequalities that shape our world, Osaka is quieter in volume. Her actions, however, speak louder than her words ever could. They get people talking not about her, but about what she stands for. Osaka competed in the 2020 US Open at the peak of the racial justice movement during the COVID-19 lockdown. Each day before she stepped on the court, she wore a mask emblazoned with the name of a different African American who had been killed by the police in recent years. The visual was striking. Osaka did not say a word, but she sparked so much discussion and awareness all over the world. Her intention was to “make people start talking,” and that is exactly what she did. Rather than using her platform to promote herself, she stands for social justice issues, letting her tennis ability speak for itself. Osaka was recently in the news after being heckled by a spectator at the 2022 Indian Wells tournament in California. She proceeded to lose straight sets, tearing up on the bench afterward. In her post-match remarks, she said she “feel[s] like [she’s] cried enough on camera.” In tennis, especially, mental fitness is the key to a good performance. This heckler got in her head and stayed there throughout the match, contributing to her loss. Osaka has withdrawn from tournaments repeatedly over the last year and a half for both physical injuries and her own mental health. She emphasizes the importance of putting herself first even if that is not what the public wants. She does not let herself be treated like a show pony put there for spectators’ entertainment. Osaka stands up for the racial inequalities that plague our world and also protect her mental health. She may be soft-spoken in nature, but her actions show the public more than words could ever tell them.

Chloe Kim:
The final athlete for my feature is young snowboarding phenom, Chloe Kim. At just 21 years old, she has already won gold medals at two Olympic games and is a six-time X-Games gold medalist. Her career took off when she competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and it has not stopped skyrocketing since then. However, the summary of her journey would not be complete without mentioning the hostility she has faced over her success. Despite being born in the United States and having always represented the country at the international level, Kim has faced a lot of backlash due to her Asian heritage. People have belittled her accomplishments saying that “she is taking medals away from the white American girls on the team.” This is a small part of the broader Asian hate movement that Kim looks to bring awareness to. She speaks out and shares stories of racism that have been directed toward her and her Asian family members in an effort to open people’s eyes. She has also spoken up about the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes and violence that sparked during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that she is worried about her parents’ safety. Kim says that she decided to speak up about the hate she receives because it “has become so normalized” and “we need to have more of these conversations” surrounding racial injustice. She speaks from personal experience to emphasize the injustices Asians face in America. As an Asian-American with a huge platform, Kim understands the value her personal stories have in bringing awareness and fighting for change.

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A huge stigma persists in the sports world around female athletes speaking out rather than “sticking to their sports.” This is a phrase constantly used in journalism indicating the view that professional athletes should refrain from political or cultural commentary, but these women eagerly disregard those words and understand that they have huge platforms with people that listen to them. They avidly support important issues and have proven to the world that they are more than just athletes. Young girls are so fortunate to have Rapinoe, Biles, Osaka, Kim, and so many others to look up to as they progress in their sports. Professional female athletes prove to young athletes that it is possible to be a professional, and to stand up for your values, creating positive change in society.