Tag Archive for "female athletes"

Posts Tagged female athletes

French men’s professional club hires first female coach in top-tier European soccer

Congrats to Helena Costa, the new head coach of the French men’s professional soccer club Clermont Foot!

The Portuguese 36 year old, who most recently has been coaching Iran and Qatar’s national women’s teams, will be the first woman to coach a professional club in France, as well as the first to coach a top or second division team in any of Europe’s five major leagues. She’s only the second woman to manage a pro team in Europe period — Carolina Morace coached a third-division Italian team for two matches in 1999 before the “constant media pressure” became too much.

Congrats to Helena Costa, the new head coach of the French men’s professional soccer club Clermont Foot!

The Portuguese 36 year old, who most recently has been coaching Iran and Qatar’s national women’s teams, will be the first woman to coach a ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

What’s the right way to be a female Olympic athlete?

Over the weekend Jeré Longman of the New York Times published this piece about female Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones. It is by all accounts pretty scathing. Alyssa Rosenberg calls it “one of the nastiest profiles” she’s ever seen. David Roth calls the article “unfounded and unfair” and Isaac Rauch of Deadspin found it so harsh that he goes to considerable effort to tear it apart line by line. Additional takedowns here and here.

But all these critics of the Times piece are missing the point. Lolo Jones needed to be called out for committing what’s become an all-too-common mistake: trying to be Olympic While Female. It goes without saying that she’s ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Why doesn’t Sarah Robles, the highest ranked American weightlifter, have all the athletic sponsorships?

I mentioned this story about American weightlifter Sarah Robles already, but I think it deserves a whole post. The twenty-three-year-old is the highest ranked weightlifter in the country, beat out every female and male American at the world championships last year, and can lift more than 568 pounds–which is apparently equivalent to one large adult male lion. And yet Robles scraps by on $400 a month from U.S.A. Weightlifting and donations from friends because she doesn’t the kind of body that secures lucrative endorsement deals.

Track star Lolo Jones, 29, soccer player Alex Morgan, 22, and swimmer Natalie Coughlin, 29, are natural television stars with camera-friendly good looks and slim, muscular figures. But women weightlifters aren’t go-tos when ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: The US women boxers

Andrecia Wasson, right, and Raquel Miller at the US women’s boxing Olympic trials. (Photo credit: Jed Conklin/zReportage.com)

As we’ve mentioned before, a good century after the men did it, female boxers will compete in the Olympics for the first time this summer. That means that for the first time in Olympic history both men and women will be competing in every sport.

Mother Jones has an awesome photo essay of the three American boxers who have a shot at London 2012. Marlen Esparza, Queen Underwood and Claressa Shields now head to competed in the 2012 Women’s World Boxing Championships in China for the final hurdle to qualify for the Olympics. Update: Thanks to commenter Sara ...

Andrecia Wasson, right, and Raquel Miller at the US women’s boxing Olympic trials. (Photo credit: Jed Conklin/zReportage.com)

As we’ve mentioned before, a good century after the men did it, female boxers will compete ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Saudi Arabia one step closer to letting women compete in London Games

It looks like some Saudi women athletes will be allowed to compete in London this summer. According to the New York Times,

A pan-Arab newspaper based in London, Al-Hayat, reported Tuesday that the Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has approved the participation of female athletes in London as long as their sports “meet the standards of women’s decency and don’t contradict Islamic laws.”

The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that it met with Saudi Olympic officials last week and that it was “confident that Saudi Arabia is working to include women athletes and officials at the Olympic Games in London.”

This would be the first time ...

It looks like some Saudi women athletes will be allowed to compete in London this summer. According to the New York Times,

A pan-Arab newspaper based in London, Al-Hayat, reported Tuesday that the Saudi Crown ...

By Lori Adelman • 12 years ago

NYT profile senationalizes female athletes’ history of sexual assault

Quanitta Underwood is a a badass female boxer. She is a five-time national champion. She is ranked fourth in the world in her lightweight division. She’s being hailed as America’s best hope for an Olympic medal in boxing in London this year. She’s a beautiful black American woman who embodies strength, power, and speed like few ever have.

She’s also a survivor of sexual assault.

I am completely inspired by Quanitta’s intensely dramatic personal story of overcoming obstacles, including being assaulted by her father as a child, to achieve greatness in the ring. I love that her story is being told to the world, and that she is on the brink of making history at the Olympics. ...

Quanitta Underwood is a a badass female boxer. She is a five-time national champion. She is ranked fourth in the world in her lightweight division. She’s being hailed as America’s best hope ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Badass woman athlete of the day: Christina Saenz de Santamaria

Since many of us spent yesterday celebrating a game that women aren’t really allowed to play, it seems fitting to spend a moments today celebrating a woman athlete.

And this woman is a total badass. She doesn’t throw or catch or tackle, but she does dive 60 metres (that’s about 197 feet) down into the ocean with no breathing assistance. The little-known sport is called free-diving, and recently, off the coast of Hawaii, Christina Saenz de Santamaria set two new Australian free-diving records.

If diving headfirst straight down into the ocean alone and holding your breath for over two minutes sounds dangerous, that’s because it is. But in an interview with Australia’s ABC News, Saenz de Santamaria explained ...

Since many of us spent yesterday celebrating a game that women aren’t really allowed to play, it seems fitting to spend a moments today celebrating a woman athlete.

And this woman is a total badass. She ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

The Women’s World Cup has begun!

(Image credit: Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The 2011 Women’s World Cup kicked off in Germany yesterday. So if you, like me, felt the men’s tournament last summer flew by before you could adequately develop obsessive team loyalties, another summer of soccer is here!

In the opening matches, France beat Nigeria and Germany, the two-time defending champion and tournament favorite, defeated Canada. The U.S. team, though still ranked No. 1 in the world, has suffered a few recent losses going into the tournament. But it remains a strong contender with a shot at winning its first Cup since 1999. Brazil, led by all-star striker Marta, is also looking pretty damn good.

The hype leading up to the tournament has ...

(Image credit: Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The 2011 Women’s World Cup kicked off in Germany yesterday. So if you, like me, felt the men’s tournament last summer flew by before you could adequately develop obsessive team ...