Kiwi rowers Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis both recently gave birth and won gold in the women's double sculls. Photo: OLIVIER MORIN / AFP
Paris made some big promises ahead of these Olympics. Triathletes would swim in the notoriously polluted urban section of the Seine river and these games would be gender equal. That means near-equal numbers of female and male athletes, and portraying them equally in sports commentary.
Delivering on those benchmarks was iffy at the start. The men's triathlon was postponed due to unsafe water. On day three, veteran British broadcaster Bob Ballard was sent packing after joking that medal-winning female swimmers were prolonging their celebration because they were "doing their makeup".
But all seems to be clearing up. Athletes swam in the Seine. Despite a few "girl" and "lady" bombs - a dismissive way to reference some of the strongest fastest people in the world - TV presenters have so far made huge improvements, according to sociologist Professor Toni Bruce from the University of Auckland, who is analysing how female athletes are portrayed at the Olympics and Paralympics.
"What we're starting to see is this real focus - particularly by the Olympics - on making sure that we don't accidentally fall into older patterns of talking about or taking photographs of or representing men and women differently," she said, "while also recognising that women's sport is different from men's sport."
Toni Bruce is a sociologist professor at the University of Auckland. Photo: Supplied
How does one commentate sports equally?
Broadcasters need to steer away from words or subjects that reinforce gender stereotypes, and use language that is similar for male and female competitors, said Bruce, who is a former journalist.
Forget girls, women and chicks. Commentators should be using "females" or "women" to match the usual reference to "men" and "males," according to the International Olympic Committees Portrayal Guidelines given out to the media. The guidelines were first published in 2018 and updated for Paris.
The guideline advises dropping warlike, masculine references such as "she swam 'like a man/beast,' to win the race" and instead using something like "she swam with determination to win that race".
Drop a description like "catfight" for a competitive women's event and use an "exciting contest".
"Ah, the chicks are crying." Nope. "Lots of emotions for these medalists." Yep.
Why are words important?
Women's sports have historically been portrayed as lesser than men's sports. "Language plays a big role in that and people's understanding of the world comes through language," said Bruce.
How bad did it used to be?
"There used to be some horrendous statements made by male commentators and you could feel every woman in New Zealand rolling her eyes and going 'Really?' This is not what our lives are like," said Bruce.
In the 1980s, commentators would happily digress from a female athlete's sporting accomplishments or training and make a comment on "how she was a good cook and she cooked for her husband," said Bruce.
Even in the last Paralympics in Tokyo, Bruce heard a lot more commentators slipping back into the "girls" and "ladies" reference of yesteryear. "Some commentators, particularly older male English commentators, seemed addicted to the word ladies and almost were unable to say the word women," she said.
Kiwi gold medalist rowers Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis with their babies. Photo: Brooke Francis/Instagram
What about references to pregnancy and motherhood?
Childcare at the Olympic village, new mothers winning medals and fencer Nada Hafez competing while seven months pregnant. These images coming out of Paris are all news-worthing and have all been celebrated.
So how can commentators talk about pregnancy and childbirth when male athletes have no equivalent experience? Mentioning a male athlete's parental status seems a bit contrived.
Still, broadcasters are doing a good job walking this fine line, said Bruce. A female athlete's pregnancy is being spoken about like it was an injury - something that simply takes you out of competition and training for a time.
This includes how commentators at the rowing spoke about Kiwi rowers Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis, who recently had children and won gold in the women's double sculls.
It was "starting to normalise pregnancy as part of being an elite professional female athlete", said Bruce.
