Word: rhythmics
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...Martha Wainwright’s new album “I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too,” the singer/songwriter immediately begins her unapologetic expression of a woman’s emotion. Over syncopated drums and her own rhythmic guitar playing, Wainwright’s voice, by no means rich or soothing, is like a mezzo-soprano Lucinda Williams. She achingly describes how “there are days when the cage doesn’t seem to open very wide at all,” referring...
There's no question they're athletic, these muscled, agile women competing in Beijing. But the question remains: Should synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics remain Olympics sports? Both disciplines came of age in a not-so-distant era when women weren't allowed to lift weights or pole vault or compete in the triathlon - all of which were inaugurated as female Olympic sports only as recently as 2000. (In the first modern Olympics in 1896, women were excluded altogether.) But today, with Title IX - the education amendment that allocates funds equally between genders - an entrenched part of American schools...
...think not. The problem with both events, in my mind, is that the girly bits overshadow the athletic parts. Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics involve such copious amounts of cosmetics that they make a Texas beauty pageant look sedate. Yes, thighs strain with effort, but I'm distracted by the twirling toes and the bleached teeth framed by rictus smiles. And the accoutrements of rhythmic gymnastics - the hoop, the swirling ribbon - divert from the balletic grace of the athletes...
...with synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics was added as an Olympic sport at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. The sartorial rules are strict: leotards must not stray into, god forbid, tutu territory. A brazen flash of a bra strap can even result in points subtracted from the gymnast's score. Curiously, in each Olympics, one of the five apparatuses isn't contested. In Athens, the clubs, which look like a pair of brightly hued bowling pins, didn't make an appearance. This year, it's the bouncy ball that's missing. Rhythmic gymnastics is certainly mesmerizing, but Cirque de Soleil...
...only Olympic sport in which men compete and women don't is in boxing. (Baseball is only for men, but it has a female counterpart, softball. And, in any case, both sports will be eliminated from the Games after this Olympics.) My suggestion: Get rid of synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics and bring in women's boxing. In Athens, women's wrestling was added for the first time. The sport now has an enthusiastic international following, from Japan and Kazakhstan to Spain and Canada. Outside of the Olympics, women's boxing is already a serious sport. If it is embraced...