I remember the thrill I
had the first time I watched the Winter Olympics. The 1988 games were held in
Calgary and as a young proud Canadian I was so excited that the coveted games
were in Canada. There was the “Battle of the Brian’s” in the men’s figure skating.
Brian Orser was representing Canada and he was going up against his main rival,
Brian Boitano from the U.S.A. I remember feeling disappointed when Boitano
outskated Orser for the gold medal.
In 1994, the anticipation
leading up to the women’s figure skating was unmatched in terms of drama and
suspense. Nancy Kerrigan was physically attacked by accomplices of her teammate
Tonya Harding. Kerrigan recovered and went on to win the silver
medal and become a national hero.
I look forward to the
games every four years. Or should I?
I have noticed over the
years there is a growing difference in terms of the intensity
of competition between men and women’s events, governed by the
International Olympic Committee at the Olympics. Consider the following:
· In
biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and shooting. The women compete
in a 7.5K sprint, a 10K individual pursuit, a 15K individual race, a 12.5K mass
start and a 4x6K relay. The men's distances for the same races are 10K, 12.5K,
20K, 15K and 4x7.5K.
· Cross-country
has a similar story, where the men's races are anywhere from 50% to 100% longer
than the women's. The longest women's race is 30 KM. The men go 50 KM.
·
In long-track speed skating, the
men's longest race is 10,000 meters. The women's is 5,000 meters. In short
track, the men skate a 5,000-meter relay; the women go 3,000 meters.
·
The
first Olympic women's ski-jumping competition, was scheduled this week for the
first time ever, at the Winter Games on a normal hill whereas the men have
three competitions—normal hill, large hill and a team event.
The International Olympic committee responded to The Wall Street
Journal’s request for an explanation about the differences between the men and women at the
games.
Sandrine Tonge, a spokesman for the IOC, wrote: “The Olympic
Sports program is established with the active contribution of the international
federations and contains similarities and distinctions between the two genders.
In cross country and biathlon for example, there are similarities in sprints
while traditionally, the long distances are shorter for women.”
(This is only partly true. The women’s sprint Tuesday was 1.3
kilometers compared with the 1.8 kilometer men’s track, a nearly 40%
difference.)
What is going on here? In
the enlightened world of 2014, why are there are such gaps in the standards of
the competition ? Is the IOC suggesting that men are in superior physical shape
and can handle more intense competition? Or is there an unspoken understanding
that there are physical differences between men and women with no gender being
superior and that would result in different expectations standards for the
respective sports?
I am asking this question
because it seems to me that Orthodox Judaism is increasingly being accused of
being sexist and gender bias towards women. This has come under the microscope
lately with two Jewish schools allowing women to wear tefilin. We are being
told that there should be no differences in terms of mitzvah obligations for
men and women. To suggest otherwise and say that there are differences between
the genders for tallis, tefilin, and minyan is being interpreted by
some that women do not count as being important.
That is quite unfortunate
because Orthodox Judaism does not just respect women. We revere women. We also
recognize that not only do men and women have physical differences but
they have spiritual differences and that while no gender is superior; there are
different spiritual needs that are nourished by different mitzvos for the
different genders.
Is it possible to view
this sensitive and delicate issue this way or not?
In any case, I am still
looking forward to the Winter Games, especially Team Canada sweeping the gold
in both men's and women's hockey.
Please share your
thoughts.
