About sex segregation in sports...

[Note: here "women" and "men" can be read as "cis women" and "cis men," but usually when I talk about women and men I mean all of them, cis, trans, nonbinary, and more.]

Despite what some people say, sex segregation in sports is NOT for the protection of women's health. Women are not that fragile.

Sex segregation in sports is for the protection of men's egos, which are that fragile.

We don't know women's true capabilities at the current moment. We are barely beginning to emerge from a long period of enforced ignorance about women's capacity for strength and athletic achievement. Example number one million or so:

For decades, the idea that “lighter is faster,” was the reigning mythology passed on by most track coaches when it came to conditioning, especially to endurance athletes. Coaches would encourage young female runners, who often have higher body fat percentages than their male counterparts, to lose weight to improve performance.

Today, many women runners are flipping the script. They’re discovering how dangerous undernourishment can be – including the risks of disordered eating – and are seeking out coaching that supports proper fueling. The old model of coaching for thinness is gradually giving way to an emphasis on strength and stamina.

Undernourishment by athletes competing at high levels can have a number of bad health effects; one of them is bone micro-fractures. I have seen TERFs citing the prevalence of micro-fractures among women athletes as proof that women need protection from competing with men--but in reality it's evidence that women in sports are being systematically discouraged from adequately nourishing themselves.

Until sexism is eradicated, nobody can make any blanket statements about women's capacity for athletic achievement.

#Sexism #Transphobia #Misogyny #Sports #Olympics #Running #WomenAthletes

npr.org/sections/shots-health-…

TIL that Phoenix is French.

#olympics

Literally the *only* story I'm going to share about the goddamn Olympics:

U.S. Rugby player Ariana Ramsey found out athletes get free healthcare in the Olympic Village and immediately booked a bunch of appointments for routine services many Americans living under our dystopian private healthcare regime simply can't afford:

si.com/olympics/american-athle…

"Like, what?” she said in a post on TikTok describing her new discovery: The Olympic Village offers free healthcare.

The United States, of course, does not. So in the days following her victory, Ramsey made appointments with the Village gynecologist, dentist and ophthalmologist. According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes. (Paralympic athletes will also have access to dermatology.)"

The best part of the story is that Ramsey not only convinced a bunch of other U.S. Athletes to take advantage of the program, but after realizing how beneficial having access to free healthcare is, she's decided to become an advocate for Universal Healthcare in America.

On a personal level and as someone who has spent time in multiple countries that offer free healthcare to their citizens, I honestly cannot stress how much it improves not only health outcomes, but also quality of life for labor class people; from increasing your lifespan, to freeing workers from dependence on bad employers just to keep their health insurance, this is one social policy that has ripples throughout almost every aspect of the lives of everyday people. And it says a LOT about the priorities of the American ruling class that they'd do almost anything to keep you from having access to universal healthcare.

#UniversalHealthcare #USPol #Capitalism #Olympics

U.S. Athletes Are Taking Full Advantage of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village

Women’s rugby player Ariana Ramsey’s videos showcasing her appointments have gone viral, and now many others are making good use of the medical services offered in Paris. 

^{Stephanie Apstein (Sports Illustrated)}

While some athletes have raved about the muffins and others have complained about the cardboard beds, some American Olympians are taking advantage of the free healthcare. Team USA rugby player Ariana Ramsey didn't just get a bronze medal in Paris — she's had a pap smear, X-ray, teeth cleaning, and an eye test. She's posted about this on TikTok, influenced other athletes in the Village to visit medical professionals, and now plans to fight for universal healthcare in the U.S. Here's more from Sports Illustrated.

flip.it/AIB6n7

#Olympics #Sports #USA #Healthcare #UniversalHealthcare

U.S. Athletes Are Taking Full Advantage of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village

Women’s rugby player Ariana Ramsey’s videos showcasing her appointments have gone viral, and now many others are making good use of the medical services offered in Paris. 

^{Stephanie Apstein (Sports Illustrated)}

It seems that even those who are not interested in sports and do not follow the Olympic Games have already read about the "50-year-old Turkish man who showed up at the competition in a wrinkled T-shirt, without special equipment, and took the Olympic silver without even taking his hand out of his pocket."

"Surely, Turkey sent some kind of hitman to Paris!" social media marvels.

In the blink of an eye, Yusuf Dikec, a previously unknown figure outside professional circles, a retired gendarmerie officer and professional shooter, became a global internet meme and sensation.

Everything is great! The moral of this story could be: no matter how old you are, keep doing what you love, and your best achievements may still lie ahead, even if you are an athlete over 50!

But another nuance caught my attention.

The fact is, Yusuf Dikec did not win the Olympic silver alone. It was a team event. Shooting alongside him was his colleague Sevval Ilayda Tarhan. In the same T-shirt, in the same pose, and also with minimal equipment.

The only difference is that he is 51, and she is 24. He began professional shooting around the time she was born.

Dikec is an excellent shooter with a plethora of medals from prestigious competitions, but he had never made it to the Olympic podium until his young partner grew up and competed with him on the same team.

If we look at the individual performances of these shooters in the same discipline where they took silver as a team, we will see that Tarhan finished 7th, while Dikec only came in 13th.

Now let's trace how mass consciousness works: we simply do not notice the woman standing next to him. It does not matter who she is, how she is dressed, how she shoots, or how unique her achievement is. We only see the man in the "wrinkled T-shirt," deliberately nonchalant, and create a romantic image of a "hitman." We spread a photograph in which he is shooting alone, and the result of this shooting is 13th place! Yet, we declare that he won "silver."

Why does the logic of mass culture work this way? After all, patriarchy has long ceased to exist, feminism is unnecessary, equality has been achieved, at least in Paris 2024 for sure!

This is how patriarchal myths about great male victories are born before our eyes. These images are entrenched in culture and shape our thinking. Meanwhile, women's contributions and achievements are simply erased from history. It was like this before. Unfortunately, it still happens today.

#Paris2024 #YusufDikec #SevvalTarhan #Olympics

Translated text. Original text from Maya Guseynova

Imane Khelif is a cis woman, she has experienced 9 losses against other women in her career, including the 2020 Olympics where she lost against Irish participant Kellie Harrington. Yet, the usual transphobes are currently unleashing a vile attack against her, misgendering her, accusing her of being a man competing unfairly and having some sort of advantage against her fellow athletes, all because she doesn't fit their incredibly limited norm of how a woman should look.

Suddenly, people who never cared or know much about the sport are very interested in women's boxing, and found a scapegoat in her in order to spread their disinformation. Khelif is currently receiving more vitriol than convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde who was still allowed to compete.

This is basically yet another reminder that it was never about genuinely caring for the safety of women. Transphobia is dangerous for everyone, *including* us cis women, and that the links between TERF ideology and white supremacy are very real. Feminism isn't feminism if it's not intersectional.

junkee.com/articles/trans-wome…

#ImaneKhelif #Olympics #Olympics2024 #transphobia #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

Transphobic Backlash To Imane Khelif Doesn't Help Women

^Junkee

Lin Yu-ting originally got into boxing wanting to protect her mother from domestic violence, which clearly shows that she has experienced domestic abuse first hand.

Imane Khelif grew up in poverty, she started boxing when she became good at dodging the physical attacks of boys in her village, traveled 10km to train, and had to work to pay for her own bus fare, as her father didn't approve of boxing for girls. An experience that a lot of girls who grew up having so-called "tomboy" interests are probably familiar with. I know I am. She has recently become a UNICEF ambassador, aiming to inspire girls everywhere to chase their dreams. (unicef.org/algeria/en/stories/…)

Not that the transphobia and clear racist undertones of attacking these two women, despite the fact that they are both cis, aren't horrible enough, but there's something particularly sinister and cruel in the fact that the people who decided to paint them as villains and keep circulating disinformation about both, claim to act in the name of ending violence against women and protecting women's rights.

#LinYuTing #ImaneKhelif #Olympics #Transphobia #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

This is a real picture, it has not been altered, just great timing as he launches over the wave

Gabriel Medina, #Brazil, he scored a 9.90, the highest single wave score in Olympics history

then he stood on air in a #photo which is instantly iconic

#surfing #olympics2024 #photography #photograph

Edit: credit to #olympics #photographer Jerome Brouillet

And Story: time.com/7005239/olympics-surf…

I am loving all the peripheral elements of the #olympics. Haven't seen any sports, yet.

#PlayingWithTheBoxItCameIn

Realization as a lifelong sports nerd and sports trivia nerd: I have no idea who or what a “Roland Garros” is.

#olympics

Wednesday, July 10

Russia’s war against Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers remarks during the opening of the NATO 75th anniversary celebratory event at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium on July 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

US, NATO allies to deliver 'dozens' of air defense systems in coming months, including 4 Patriots. The U.S. and at least nine other NATO allies have agreed to send dozens of air defense systems in the coming months to Ukraine, including at least four Patriot batteries, according to a joint agreement issued on July 9.

US supplies Ukraine with Metal Shark high-speed boats. The boats are equipped with modern navigation and control systems, automatic fire extinguishing, as well as a video surveillance system, making them maneuverable, fast, and ergonomic, the State Border Guard Service said.

F-16s in Ukraine may 'create conditions for counterattack,' Polish general says. "Ukrainian aviation should receive long-range missiles to destroy Russia's infrastructure, including airfields. When this happens, the logistics of the Russian army will be cut off from the main forces. If this is done, Ukraine's army command should form a strike group and strike back," Kraszewski said.

NATO summit communique to describe Ukraine's path to alliance as 'irreversible,' CNN reports. The question of how strong guarantees to give Ukraine regarding its future membership in NATO has become a key source of debate inside the alliance, CNN reported. The final version of the document may contain changes, CNN wrote, but the presence of the "irreversible" Ukraine's accession to NATO would be "a significant signal to Kyiv and Moscow."

Ukraine struck airbase, oil depot, and energy facility in Russia overnight, source says. Ukrainian intelligence agencies carried out an attack against a Russian military airfield, an energy substation, and an oil depot in three different regions overnight on July 9, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.

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UN assessment suggests Kyiv children's hospital suffered direct hit by Russian missile. Evidence from the scene of the children's hospital in Kyiv indicates "a high likelihood" of a direct hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile on July 8, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMUN) said on July 9.

Republican Party committee approves 2024 platform, makes no mention of Ukraine, Russia. The 16-page document, which must be still approved at the upcoming Republican National Convention, focuses primarily on domestic issues.

Zelensky says Indian PM's embrace with Putin a 'huge disappointment' after Russian mass attack on Ukraine. "It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Rescue operations end at Kyiv children's hospital, at least 33 killed in capital overall

Search and rescue operations at the site of a Russian missile attack on Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv concluded on July 9, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images

F-16s, multi-billion pledge, more Patriots, 'irreversible' membership – what Ukraine will and won't get at the NATO Summit

While 75th birthdays are usually a cause for joy and celebration, NATO's marking of this milestone at a three-day summit in Washington from 9-11 July is likely to be a rather more muted affair.

Photo: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images

Russia probes for air defense gaps to wreak havoc on Kyiv

Rather than evidence of some technological edge on Russia's side, experts linked the destruction wrought by the attack to Moscow's consistent probing for weaknesses in Ukrainian air defenses.

Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

Russian propagandists spin conflicting disinformation in bid to evade responsibility for missile strike on children’s hospital

As some Russian talking heads call for more Ukrainians to be killed, Zelensky’s top aide urges more Western help to stop a war of ‘genocide.’

Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Rescue operations end at Kyiv children's hospital, at least 33 killed in capital overall. In total, at least 33 people, including four children, were killed in Kyiv as a result of the July 8 attack, officials said the following day. Another 10 children are among the 117 injured.

International response

Saudi Arabia issued vague threats to G7 against seizing frozen Russian assets, Bloomberg reports. Saudi officials reportedly made "veiled threats" to Group of Seven (G7) nations hinting that the kingdom would sell some European debt holdings if Western allies seized about $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, Bloomberg reported on July 9, citing its sources.

North Korean military trainers travel to Russia weeks after signing of partnership agreement. A delegation of North Korean military trainers led by the head of a prestigious military academy in Pyongyang has begun a trip to Russia, North Korean state media reported on July 9.

'When innocent children killed, the heart bleeds,' Modi comments on Russian July 8 attack after meeting with Putin. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow on July 8 in what was his first trip to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Threat of Russian sabotage led to heightened security at US military bases in Europe, CNN reports. The heightened security alert was first reported earlier in July as being connected to a possible terrorist threat directed at several U.S. military installations across Europe, including the facility in Germany where the U.S. European Command is based.

US announces moves against Russia-linked bot farm aimed at spreading disinformation. According to the Justice Department, the bot farm was organized by a Russian national who worked as the deputy editor-in-chief of RT in 2022, and expanded with funding from the Kremlin and collaboration with an official from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

Moscow court orders arrest in absentia of Yulia Navalnaya. A Moscow court said that it had "approved the request of the investigators and decided a preventive measure in the form of detention for two months." Yulia Navalnaya currently lives outside of Russia, but would face jail time if she returns.

Bulgaria sues Russian Gazprom, seeking compensation of more than $430 million. In 2023, the Russian gas giant suspended Bulgargaz's long-term contract, which covered 90% of the quantities of natural gas delivered by Bulgargaz to customers.

Switzerland announces new sanctions against Russia. Switzerland announced new sanctions against Russia on July 8, bringing the country further in line with the EU's 14th round of sanctions adopted in response to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow agrees to discharge all Indians recruited into Russian army, Indian outlet reports. Moscow agreed to release all Indians serving in the Russian army and facilitate their return after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin, Indian news publication NDTV reported on July 9, citing unnamed sources.

US provides Poland with $2 billion for financing of F-35s, Patriots, Abrams. The U.S. will provide Poland with a second $2 billion Foreign Military Financing loan to purchase defense equipment from the U.S., the State Department announced on July 8.

In other news

Ukrainian state defense company opens office in US. Ukraine's state-owned defense company Ukrainian Defense Industry, also known as Ukroboronprom, has opened a representative office in Washington as Kyiv seeks to strengthen defense partnerships abroad amid Russia's war.

Nearly $37,000 stolen from bank accounts of fallen soldiers in Dnipro. The suspects, with the help of an employee of the Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine, stole payment cards and mobile phones registered in the online banking system from dead soldiers in a morgue.

Ukraine to be represented at 2024 Olympics by smallest number of athletes in history. Only 140 Ukrainian athletes will compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this year, the smallest number in the history of the country's participation in the games, as Russia's war has damaged or destroyed sports' facilities and frequent air raid alerts interrupt training.

EU freezes $32 million in defense funds for Georgia, halts accession process amid ‘low point’ in relations. Brussels has frozen 30 million euros ($32 million) in defense sector funding for Georgia after halting its EU accession process in June, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said on July 9.

Bloomberg names 12 oligarchs who earn billions in payouts from Russia's war economy. Russia's wartime economy has earned a dozen oligarchs $11 billion in dividends as Russian natural resource and finance giants earn record profits during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on July 9.

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Anne Hidalgo: "Cars Will Not Return To the Eiffel Tower" after the Olympic Games.

"The Trocadéro will be greened and the Pont d'Iéna pedestrianized, up to the Champ de Mars, which will be reforested. The whole thing will form a large park in the heart of Paris."

#Paris #olympics #cars #cities

bfmtv.com/paris/paris-anne-hid…

Paris: Anne Hidalgo promet que "les voitures ne reviendront pas devant la Tour Eiffel" après les JO

L'élue socialiste prévoit de végétaliser le Trocadéro et de piétonniser le pont d'Iéna pour former "un grand parc" au cœur de la capitale.

^{Florian Bouhot (BFM Paris)}