msn.com
2023-06-02
Many have fought for a long time and gone through many challenges to make the gains that have seen women's sport evolve into its rightful place in the social conscience; a place where the exploits of our daughters are as respected as those of our sons. We are not there yet, but the position and changes currently occurring are visible by the month and unimaginable from the time of my youth, when sporting bodies such as British Cycling could write off my entreaties that they should actually hold British Championship events for girls, just as they did for boys.
I admire and respect the efforts of those who went before me, who went above and beyond, and those who followed me, and I trust my own efforts in that regard were also worthy.
The still-evolving nature of women's sport means that it relies heavily on many who work on the logistics supporting it, going above and beyond, changing and challenging the status quo.
That the transgender cyclist Austin Killips won the UCI-ranked Tour of the Gila in the USA garnered lots of press coverage with the obvious focus: was it a fair athletic competition; what do other riders think; what does Killips's team think? Well the business model is a free-to-view sport with sponsors paying teams for publicity to put their brand into the media.