Why Some Sportswomen are More Equal than others.

As the recent women’s final at the Australian Open tennis tournament proves, there are some sports where prize money should not necessarily be the same for men and woment. For all Billie Jean King’s persuasive arguments, the bottom line is that the best of five between physically superior beings produces a far more entertaining, and value-for-money exhibition than the best of three, even if it is a tight, tense affair.
That said there are some sports, and some outstanding characters, where the women deserve precisely the same opportunity as their male counterparts. Take Victoria Pendleton as an example. The Queen of British cycling followed up her three world titles in 2007 with two more, and a silver medal, at the 2008 World Championships, but then won only a single gold at the Beijing Olympics because the women’s individual sprint was the only event she could enter. Chris Hoy, meanwhile, has three disciplines to enter, wins the lot, and becomes a knighted, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, superstar.  As pleased as Victoria is for Hoy, she cannot help but wonder what might have happened to her life if the three events she excels in – individual and team sprint, and the keirin, which were precisely the same three Hoy won in the men’s – had been part of the Olympic schedule. If the London 2012 Games fail to accommodate Victoria’s wishes, she will switch cycling events from sprints to endurance, which really would be a story.