I’m Pete, and The Washington Post sent me to Paris to show you some of the wonders and weirdness you couldn’t otherwise see without being here. You can find my previous dispatches here:
Good morning from sunny — yes, sunny! — Paris.
I’m filing this report from a shady spot at the skateboarding venue. I’m getting the hang of this on-site reporter thing and preparing much better. I have a croissant in my bag, Vans on my feet and I’m wearing my Wu-Tang Clan shirt to blend in with all the skaters in the crowd.
I’ve been thinking about one of the themes of this Olympics: women’s fight for equality in society and sports. Parity was a goal of the Paris Games.
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I was in the stands at the women’s skateboarding street final. I saw the toughness as the skaters fell hard and got back up, and their body-bending athleticism was incredible. The crowd held its breath on every run, gasping at every fall, and there were ooooooohs and cheers every time a skater nailed a trick. Fans chanted the name of Brazil’s Rayssa Leal. They did the wave.
How could anyone have ever thought women couldn’t compete?
It took well over a century for the Olympics to go from no women to nearly equal participation. Here are some of the milestones:
Many symbols in this Olympics nod to French history.
But I counted zero skaters in the crowd.
The Brazilian fans were especially amped up for the skateboarding, and they should be. Leal was among the favorites, and she won a bronze medal.
Brazil is among the countries that have sent more women athletes than men to France, and skateboarding is one of the sports that include the same number of women and men.
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I wondered if teens would be too young to have experienced a time before the push for equality, so I asked Leal, 16, a question in — drum roll, please — my first Olympic athletes’ news conference!
Her answer surprised me: “When I was small many people told me I shouldn’t skate because skating was for boys and for men,” Leal said. “Overcoming this is very important, and this will be forever in our memories. I feel very privileged to be part of this Olympics with gender parity.”
Parity doesn’t mean all sports are completely equal and they don’t always look the same.
For example, rhythmic gymnastics is for women only, and artistic swimming (formerly synchronized swimming) just allowed men to compete this year (although none made it to Paris).
But the International Olympic Committee considers 28 of the 32 overall sports categories to be gender equal.
I made another important discovery: All creatures in France apparently appreciate croissants, because my bag is now full of ants.
But wait! Breaking news: I finally found skaters! And they were old enough to know Wu-Tang Clan! So much of the music was from the 1990s that I felt quite retro-cool (even though I was pretty sweaty).
But where were all the city’s skaters? Maybe I can find some Monday.
About this story
Data on sports participation came from the official Olympics site and was updated as of July 28. Additional source for Olympic milestones: “The Complete Book of the Olympics” by David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky. Image source: Michel Urtado/Musee du Louvre, Paris/Copyright RMN-Grand Palais.
Pete’s adventures are mostly those of Artur Galocha, who is reporting from Paris, with help from afar from Bonnie Berkowitz and Álvaro Valiño. Adrián Blanco and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report. Editing by Matt Rennie and Jason Murray. Graphics editing by Samuel Granados. Copy editing by Ella Brockway.
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