British cycling reacted with dismay after the IOC announced that no events would be added to its program at the Olympic Games in 2012, seemingly closing the door on Victoria Pendleton’s chances of more than one gold.
The decision means that the governing body’s campaign for equality in men’s and women’s track cycling events – there are seven men’s and three women’s events – is almost certainly doomed to failure.
British Cycling began lobbying for parity after the Beijing Games, where the female sprinter Pendleton had only one opportunity to win a gold medal while her male counterpart, Chris Hoy, had three. “There isn’t a reason why we shouldn’t have the same number of events as the men,” said Pendleton, the gold medalist in the sprint. The campaign won the backing of the Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, who is expected to meet IOC president Jacques Rogge this weekend in Berlin.
August 25th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Sorry but women are just not into cycling the way men are. I have seen promoters bend over backwards for years to bring women to the races. They just don’t show up in big enough numbers. Maybe it’s just not a women’s sport. Baseball is not very popular for women to participate in either. It’s just the way it is. There are sports that draw women like tennis, volleyball, triathlon, soccer. Cycling is just not one of them.
Before I get flamed, I have a daughter that is an athlete. I am sensitive to the plight of girl’s athletics.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Hi Jay!
Thank you for your comment. I think the problem is lack of vision and commitment. With regard to the Olympics I think there are more women into cycling then compared to other Olympic sports like equestrian or even swimming for that matter. Why there isn’t a full range of events for women cycling events in the Olympics I don’t know.
When I’m out on the weekends and all the weekend-warriors come out to ride the streets and trails I see just as many women as I do men. If I were a cycling clothing company or cycling manufacture… women would be my number one priority.
Speaking strictly from a business and marketing standpoint women spend at least double of what men do for clothing and accessories in their regular day to day life. If given the proper respect, research and commitment that men receive… I believe manufactures and sponsors will find that women will be quite receptive even more than men!
Manufactures, sponsors, clothing companies, supplement companies all should wake up to this and take more time to find out what the women of cycling need and want. In my opinion the companies who do this first (full-heatedly and not half-assed) will surely find success. Up until now I’d say the industry as a whole has only given women’s cycling about 50-60% the push it really needs to be more of a prominent sport in day to day life and in competition.
I think if the industry as a whole commits more time to women’s cycling in the end, everyone will win. The sponsors will be happy with their profit margins, clothing and women’s fabricated gear will be flying off the shelves and eStores… so long as they take the time to see what it is the women of the sport really want and need.
Being a habitual optimist I’ll say this… women’s cycling is definitely on the rise and the sport is gathering increasing amounts of support. Manufactures and sponsors are slowly coming out of the wood-work and the next generation of women riders are going to be phenomenal athletes with a completely new brand of marketability!
September 4th, 2009 at 6:38 am
I would agree with you Echo!!! I believe that women’s cycling is booming and I would love for the manufacturers and sponsors to pay more attention. They are missing out on a huge market!!
September 14th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I think part of the problem is that the organizers and media people don’t THINK that women are in to cycling. Look at the disparity in money paid out to the winners, between men and women. Look at the way the organizers have made the women’s versions of the men’s races shorter because, apparently, “women can’t handle full-length race courses”.
An attitude adjustment, from both the top down and the bottom up, seems to be in order.
Echo, good points on the gear aspect. I’d love to purchase the same great clothing and shoes as the guys– but all I get stuck with is the “shrink it and pink it” set. I get a catalog in the mail from a well-known cycling outfitter, and it has 10 pages of men’s jerseys (just jerseys) and 2 pages of women’s jerseys, shorts, shoes, and accessories. Everything for the female genders is stuck into those two pages, and the men get 10 whole back-to-back pages of jerseys, plus pages and pages of shorts, more pages of shoes, etc. That sucks.