VOICE ONE:
Women’s sports in the United States are becoming more popularevery year. More and more women are succeeding as excellentathletes. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Doug Johnson. Women in sports is our report today on theVOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
Photographs of women taking part in sports events hang on thewalls of the Arts and Industries Building in Washington, D-C. Thefemale athletes pictured in this Smithsonian Institution exhibit areall ages, from young children to old women. They represent a numberof races and ethnic groups. Some have physical problems that wouldhave kept them out of athletics in the past.
The women are swimming or skating. They are playing baseball,raising heavy weights or running races. Others are preparing forcompetition. Or they are resting after their games. They lookintense, extremely happy or full of regret.
VOICE TWO:
The exhibit is called “Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete LookLike?” It will be shown in Washington through the end of this year.Then the exhibit will move to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Olympicgames next year. Then the exhibit will be shown in nineteen otherAmerican cities. Photographer and museum expert Geoffrey Biddle andsportswriter Jane Gottesman organized the exhibit.
Mizz Gottesman began writing about sports for a San Francisconewspaper in the early Nineteen-Nineties. During that time she notedthat only a few pictures of women athletes appeared in the media. Soshe asked photographers what a female athlete looks like. Theyanswered with the pictures shown in the exhibit. The photos aredivided into time periods with names that sound like sportscommands: “Get Ready.” “Action.” “Finish.”
VOICE ONE:
Visitors say they will remember some of the pictures for a longtime. For example, weight-lifter Cheryl Haworth is shown standing ona road lined by leafy trees. She has raised a log over her head. Butshe makes holding this huge piece of wood look easy. Mizz Haworthwon a medal in weight lifting at the Two-Thousand Olympics.
Another picture shows a table-tennis game in theNineteen-Ninety-Six Olympics. Photographer Annie Leibovitz capturedthe image of Lily Yip of the United States team. She took thepicture during intense competition. Mizz Yip stands on one foot. Herother leg is in the air behind her. She has just hit the unseenball. Or perhaps she is waiting for its return. Her expressiondemonstrates how hard she is struggling to win.
VOICE TWO:
In another picture a small girl rides a skateboard. Thephotograph is called “Tomboy.” This word describes a girl who enjoysthe same activities as boys. Photographer Meri Simon took thepicture in Nineteen-Eighty-Seven. Still another picture shows awoman during the early Nineteen-Hundreds. She looks very differentfrom the speeding child. The woman stands still on a tennis court.Her dress reaches her feet. A hat covers her head. This athletelooks as though she would have difficulty moving around.
Many years later, Norma Enrique Basilio became the first womanever to light the Olympic flame. She is shown carrying the torch tolight the traditional fire at the Mexico City games inNineteen-Sixty-Eight.
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VOICE ONE:
American parents did not always want their daughters to take partin sports. Many years ago, people praised stars like runner WilmaRudolph and tennis player Althea Gibson. Few families, however,urged girls to try for a life in sports. And many men in sportsactively tried to prevent women from taking part. Experts say theprogress made by women in sports is linked to the general progressfor equal rights made by women during the past thirty years.
VOICE TWO:
A major step in progress for women in sports resulted from aneducation law passed by Congress in Nineteen-Seventy-Two. One partof the law is called Title Nine. It bans unfair treatment based onsex in any program of a school receiving money from the federalgovernment. Schools and universities lose government aid if theirsports programs do not treat men and women equally. Title Nine saysthat women should have the same chance as men to play school sports.
As a result of this law, colleges and universities started morewomen’s sports programs. More people began attending women’s sportsevents. Women also began to play sports that had been unusual forthem in the past. They started to play hockey and football. Acollege student in Alabama recently became the first woman to playand score in a National Collegiate Athletic Association footballgame.
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VOICE ONE:
In recent years, women have played in organized professionalsports leagues for the first time. For example, the Women’s NationalBasketball Association was organized in Nineteen-Ninety-Seven by themen’s National Basketball Association. The W-N-B-A has eight teams.They play in eight major cities including New York; Los Angeles,California; Houston, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Millions of people all over the world watched the W-N-B-Achampionship on television earlier this month. The Los AngelesSparks defeated the Charlotte Sting of North Carolina. Lisa Leslieled the Sparks to their first W-N-B-A championship.
Mizz Leslie scored twenty-four points in the game. She was namedthe Most Valuable Player of the game. Earlier, she was chosen theW-N-B-A’s most valuable player. Many young girls consider fineathletes like Lisa Leslie to be their heroes.
VOICE TWO:
Women’s soccer also has made major progress in recent years. Fineplayers like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain have helped make the sportmore popular. These women were members of the United States WorldCup soccer team in Nineteen-Ninety-Nine. They also won medals inOlympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and Sydney, Australia. Now theycompete in the Women’s United Soccer Association. The league haseight teams. Players come from a number of countries.
An exciting championship game recently ended the women’s soccerleague’s first season. The Bay Area CyberRays of California defeatedthe Atlanta Beat. More than twenty-thousand people watched theaction in Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
VOICE ONE:
Many people say women’s professional tennis has become moreinteresting than men’s tennis. More people watch the women’s gameson television than the men’s games. One sports commentator said,”The women are not only good players. They are also very interestingpeople. “People like to watch two American sisters as they competein major tennis events.
Venus Williams is twenty-one years old. Her sister SerenaWilliams is nineteen. The two are among the world’s ten top womentennis players. They are the first African American women in yearsto gain international fame in tennis.
Earlier this month, they became the first sisters ever to competeagainst each other for the United States Women’s Open TennisChampionship. It was the first time two African Americans played fora major singles tennis championship. And it was the first UnitedStates Women’s Open to be broadcast on television at night.
Venus Williams defeated her sister Serena in the championshipmatch. Both sisters, however, have gained great success. In thepast, tennis has often been called a sport for rich people. TheWilliams family had little money when Venus and Serena were growingup. Their mother says her girls often played tennis with poorequipment on bad courts.
VOICE TWO:
Great athletes like the Williams sisters are not the onlyAmerican women who take part in sports. Many average women do, too.Some choose team sports. Others choose activities that can beperformed alone. These women swim, ski or sail small boats. Theylift weights or run long distances.
A fifty-seven-year-old high school teacher in Chicago, Illinoisdrives many kilometers every day to a horse-riding center. She saysshe is not especially good at riding a horse. But riding through thewoods on a fine animal makes her happy. This woman says sports aregood for the human spirit.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced byCaty Weaver. Our engineer was Keith Holmes. I’m Shirley Griffith
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.