American Women Are Saving Men’s Butts Yet Again
Don’t look now, but the women of Team USA are not-so-quietly dominating the Olympics in Rio
Who would you say has been the star of the Olympics so far? Sure we’re only a week in, but who comes to mind?
Maybe it’s Ginny Thrasher, the young woman who won the first Rio medal for Team USA in air rifle, a gold. Perhaps you’re thinking of Ibtihaj Muhammad, the Muslim-American who inspired the nation as the first US athlete to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab. Maybe it’s Mara Abbott, who led the cycling road race until the final dying stretches. Or perhaps it’s Katie Ledecky that comes to mind or newly-crowned American hero Lilly King.
What men have you thought of? Ryan Murphy finally won the first men’s individual gold Monday night, and Michael Phelps and the relay team won gold the night before. Alexander Massialas entertained (I think?) before coming up short in the fencing finals. And then there’s… uh… guys?
And that’s before we even mention the team gold the US girls are stone-cold locks to win in gymnastics Tuesday and all the individual gymnastics medals and deserved attention sure to follow. And it’s before we remember the rest of the golds Katie Ledecky will sweep this week, or the World Cup champs rolling up the competition yet again, or Serena walking to yet another title, or the dominant volleyball teams both indoor and beach, or, or, or…
Where you at, American men?
In 2012 for the first time in the modern Summer Olympics, American women had more gold medals than the men, 29 to 17. Historically the men have far outpaced the women, usually by something like a 2-to-1 ratio. In the 80s and 90s, our men racked up a ton of golds in events like sprinting and wrestling.
Usually they were the big Olympic superstars. For every Kerri Strug or Janet Evans, there were 2 or 3 Mark Spitz or Carl Lewis or Michael Johnson or Maurice Greene or Rulon Gardners. The men ruled the Wheaties boxes and got the lion’s share of the attention.
As a new century dawned and the Michael Phelps era began, there were no big signs that pointed otherwise, but the tide had begun to turn. American men started winning a few less golds than they were used to — but we didn’t really notice because the women started increasing their output and keeping the overall Team USA medal count high and dry.
We started noticing in London in 2012. We noticed when Gabby Douglas won an all-around gymnastics title. We saw Serena and Venus dominate the tennis courts and Missy and Katie and Rebecca and Dana kill it in the pool. We witnessed the American women racking up team golds in gymnastics and basketball and volleyball and water polo and soccer and beach volleyball. We saw the Fierce Five deservedly steal the show at Michael Phelps’ Olympics.
American men won just 17 gold medals in London, the fewest in decades, but no one really noticed. The women racked up 29 golds of their own en route to 103 USA medals, atop the medal count as always.
The American women had saved the London Olympics.
This year American women are even stronger than ever — especially when you compare them to their male counterparts.
Take a look at a list of some events USA is expected to win gold(s) in:
Both men and women
Basketball, beach volleyball, swimming, rowing, long jump, shooting
Women but not men
Gymnastics (both team and individual), soccer, volleyball, water polo, tennis, hurdles, pole vault, high jump, boxing, judo, field hockey
Men but not women
Fencing, diving, triple jump, shot put
Well that sort of speaks for itself — just look at the disparity! The projected gold medal count for the women should go over 30 for the first time ever while the men look like they may struggle to reach half that number.
And check out the “both” events too. Even in events that the American men are likely to win, the women are even more dominant. Women’s basketball? Better than the men. Beach volleyball? Definitely better. Rowing? Better. Swimming? Looking better.
Men are better at throwing crap and shooting guns and sword fighting.
So what’s the problem??
No problem at all, actually.
You write your own column about the struggles of American men at the Olympics. We’re here to celebrate these incredible women.
We’re already celebrating Ginny Thrasher, Katie Ledecky, and Lilly King. Get ready to add Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian to the list Tuesday (and again Thursday and this weekend). And start learning the names of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, Claressa Shields and Kayla Harrison, Allyson Felix and Dalilah Muhammad, Kim Hill and Alex Morgan. They may all be wearing gold medals 10 days from now.
American women have exploded onto the scene over the past couple Olympics, and it looks like they’re here to stay.
And that is awesome for everyone.
After all, what are the Olympics if not one giant celebration of awesomeness?
They’re an excuse to care about swimming and gymnastics and track & field once every 4 years for a couple weeks. They’re a chance to spend our last precious weeks of summer on the couch with the family rooting for our athletes to make America great again — and forget briefly about everyone else trying to do that for us.
And let’s be honest. We care about the Olympics because we are Americans and we are GREAT at them. Americans will care about anything we can win.
And American women are winning.
So let’s enjoy the rest of these Olympics before the real world comes back around, and let’s appreciate all the gold medals our women are about to rack up these next couple weeks.
With any luck, it won’t be the last time American women save our butts from men in 2016.
Official Rio Olympics 2016 What To Watch For Daily Guide
Aug 6–7 … Aug 8 … Aug 9 … Aug 10 … Aug 11–12 …
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