Olympic wāhine winning streak makes powerful case for more funding for women's sport
ANALYSIS: Dame Lisa Carrington, Ellesse Andrews, Lydia Ko and co have made another compelling case for more funding for women’s sport after Kiwi wāhine again dominated New Zealand’s Olympic Games medals table.
Eight of New Zealand’s 10 gold medals - 80% - in Paris were won by women with kayaking great Carrington (three), her paddling pal Alicia Hoskin and star cyclist Andrews (two) topping the hit parade.
The metal detector in Auckland Airport’s luggage carousel will whir into overdrive when that decorated trio head home.
Fourteen of the 20 Kiwi medals - 70% - went to women, an outstanding achievement which perhaps merited having two female flag bearers at the Olympic closing ceremony, Carrington and Andrews (or Ko if Andrews was unable to get from the velodrome to Stade de France in time).
It is hard to believe now that New Zealand went 40 years without a female Olympic champion, from long jumper Yvette Williams at Helsinki in 1952 to board sailor Barbara Kendall at Barcelona in 1992.
Then there was another 12-year lull with only Kiwi men on the top step of the podium.
Women in Sport Aotearoa chief executive Nicky van den Bos said on Monday that it was wonderful to see the Kiwi wāhine perform so well in Paris and women in general.
She was particularly pleased that “women from all walks of life’’ had excelled and believed it had sent a powerful signal that some athletes had demonstrated that women ”can return from the motherhood journey’’ and still be “globally competitive”.
She said it was so powerful for ”the younger generation’’ to see the New Zealand women’s success because ”you have to see it to be it“.
It was now important to ensure there was increased visibility for women’s sport through more and equitable media coverage and broadcasting exposure.
While van den Bos said the Government had made “a significant investment in women’s sport and there’s some fruits in their labour’’, there was a lot of work still to be done in attracting wider public investment through people watching women’s sport and “more commercial investment’’.
She said the massive rise in investment in the Women’s NBA basketball competition and “celebrity investment’’ in women’s sport showed the sector’s potential and it had been predicted women’s sport could become ”a billion dollar’’ industry in the United States, but more corporate dollars were needed.
