Le ragazze come Katie sono da ricordare. Per la loro forza, la loro perseveranza, la grinta, lo spirito di sacrificio e gli ideali che trasmettono ad altre ragazze attraverso lo sport.

Katie, il cui obbiettivo è traversare gli Stati Uniti correndo, diventando cosi' la più giovane donna a portare a termine tale impresa, raccoglie anche fondi per l'organizzazione Girls on the Run oltre a "Empowering people to find their passion, create a plan to embrace it, and run towards it fully!"

L'atleta ha un sito internet con tutte le informazioni riguardanti la sua corsa.

òa ers

young girls through running.

Jeannie Longo claimed her 56th French national title in the time trial championship in St. Brieuc on Thursday. Her victory came 30 years after she took her first blue, white and red jersey on the road back in 1979.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/longos-56th-title-comes-amidst-discord

Women's tennis legend and Women's Sports Foundation founder Billie Jean King, 65, traded knowing smiles with a giddy Valerie Jarrett, president Barack Obama's senior advisor and the leader of a panel that discussed the challenges of furthering the letter and spirit of the law.

 This celebration came against the backdrop of a study released Tuesday showing 12,000 more athletic scholarships available for females than males in sports played by both men and women. The College Sports Council, a watchdog group that charts the impact of Title IX on men's sports, says the NCAA is not making decisions based on interest when it comes to women's sports but is looking for sports with large rosters "to satisfy the gender quota," said chairman Eric Pearson.

Duncan also announced $2.4 million in grants for 13 organizations to support projects that will help high school girls gain higher proficiency in math and science, according to a White House press release.

"These grants go hand-in-glove with our efforts to improve equity and access for women and girls in the classroom and on the playing field," Duncan said. "While much has been accomplished since Title IX was enacted, we must continue to push for further progress. The Obama administration strives to remove the obstacle of gender discrimination as a way to increase access to college and careers for all students."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2009-06-23-title-ix-study_N.htm

A woman ran a seminal and nearly successful race for the Democratic nomination for president, and the Republican Party placed a woman on the national ticket for the first time. A woman is sitting in Walter Cronkite's chair. But give a woman a notebook or a microphone and ask her report on sports and it becomes a gross-out contest for the numskull players and their overgrown frat-boys fans.

The U.S. District Court in New York ordered the New York Yankees to grant a woman reporter from Sports Illustrated the same locker room access it granted male reporters, and Major League Baseball was forced to open its locker rooms to women reporters.

The Sun sent me to the Orioles locker room to report on the scene, and manager Earl Weaver refused to let me enter unless I had a note from my father. 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.reimer03aug03,0,7679461.column

As the popularity of youth tournaments has intensified over the past decade, a peculiar trend has emerged: girls’ sporting events tend to attract more relatives and generate more revenue for tourism than similar events for boys. And that is drawing increased attention from economic development officials.

“There are far more people who will travel with 12-year-old girls than even 12-year-old boys,” said Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions, a trade group that advises communities on attracting sporting events. “And vastly more people will travel with 12-year-old girls than 18-year-old boys.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/sports/29softball.html?_r=4

The International Olympic Committee said today that women's boxing would be included in the Olympic games for the first time in 2012.

The decision, announced by the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, following a meeting of the executive board in Berlin means that the Olympics in London will be the first to feature women and men competing in all of the sports.

"It's a bit like fencing with gloves on. It's technical and it's tactical," said Rebecca Gibson, the national women's boxing development manager at the Amateur Boxing Association of England. "The girls who box are from very diverse backgrounds, from those using it as a way out of crime, to navy officers."

The decision was welcomed by campaigners for gender equality who said it was an important staging post towards their ultimate aim of redressing the Olympic gender imbalance that sees men competing for 38 more medals than women.

Sue Tibballs, chief executive of the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, said the inclusion of boxing could help provide the sorts of role models that might boost participation among young women and address the drop-off in activity among teenage girls.

"We are delighted that women's boxing will be at London 2012. With the sport dating back to the 1720s, it's been a long, hard, fight to get to [this] decision but we hope it represents a wider move towards gender equality at the games," she said.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/13/olympics-women-boxing

"It's a great addition," IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "The sport of women's boxing has progressed a lot, a tremendous amount, in the last five years. It was about time to include it in the Olympic Games."

Female boxers will compete in three weight classes, with 12 competitors each in flyweight, lightweight and middleweight.

"There are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to men but this is a step in the right direction," British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said.

Una grande atleta ed un grande esempio di sportività.

Derartu Tulu was more than halfway to the most unexpected laurel crown of her career, her 37-year-old legs churning over the Queensboro Bridge, when she turned to the struggling runner next to her and extended a lifeline. 

“Come on,” Tulu said to Paula Radcliffe, the defending champion and world-record holder from Britain. “We can do it.”

When Radcliffe, with a painful left hamstring, dropped back on the slope of Fifth Avenue, about four miles from the finish line, Tulu waited for her. Radcliffe could barely lift her legs, though, and Tulu raced back to the diminished lead pack with plenty in reserve.

Her victory came 17 years after she became the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the Barcelona Games, and more than a year since she nearly abandoned a comeback after the birth of her second child.

“I did not come here necessarily expecting to win,” Tulu said through an interpreter. “But I knew I could be a good competitor. I’m very happy to have won.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/sports/02women.html

A group of 14 female ski jumpers appear before the B.C. Court of Appeal on Thursday in their final bid for inclusion in the 2010 Winter Games.

The women claim Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC, is discriminating against them by not staging their event.

B.C. Supreme Court Judge Lauri Ann Fenlon ruled while it was discriminatory to exclude the female ski jumpers from the 2010 Games, it was not VANOC's decision but that of the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC, Fenlon said, is not subject to Canadian human rights law.

But the lawyer for the ski jumpers told CBC News that he would argue that the pivotal fact is that Canadian human rights law does apply to VANOC.

"What we're asking for and have always asked for — and I think the judge confused this in her reasons — is a declaration that VANOC cannot proceed under the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] hosting a men's event without hosting a women's event," Ross Clark said.

The British Columbia Appeal Court provided written reasons on Friday for its decision last week to dismiss an appeal filed by female jumpers seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed organizers to hold a men's ski jumping competition but not a women's event. The women argued that violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The women had asked the courts to rule that the organizing committee, known as VANOC, must either include a women's ski jumping event in February's games or cancel the men's event.

The three-member appeals panel unanimously rejected their appeal last week, but only provided their reasons for doing so on Friday.

Ski jumping is the only Olympic sport without events for both men and women since the IOC voted earlier this year to include women's boxing in the Summer Olympics.

The IOC voted in 2006 to not include women's ski jumping at the games, saying the sport had not met the required technical criteria.

It will be on the program for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, and the international body that governs ski jumping has said it will press for its inclusion for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4DOHLP3M7Ta51OWsbSG16x5KgwAD9C3HUO00

Sarah Thomas made history Saturday night at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl by becoming the first woman to officiate a bowl game when she worked the matchup between Ohio and Marshall. 

Thomas is one of five women officiating in major college football, the first and only female referee in Conference USA. Pizza Bowl spokesman Tim Moore said she was the first woman to draw an assignment for a Bowl Subdivision postseason game.

"It was an honor," Thomas told the Associated Press while running off the field with her colleagues after Marshall's 21-17 victory in Detroit.

"This is something bigger than being the first female," Thomas said. "It's a profession we take a lot of pride in ... preparing for the season. We just want to go out there and manage our responsibilities and let the kids play the game."

Isn't that what it should be about for referees, no matter what their gender?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/314949-thomas-shatters-another-glass-ceiling

http://www.zimbio.com/Sarah+Thomas/articles/nP_truKeq6b/Sarah+Thomas+Referee+Becomes+First+Woman+Officiate

Training in the Alborz mountain range north of Tehran, Kalhor began skiing at age four. But it wasn't until a National Youth Championship that the skier considered truly pursuing the sport, saying the win "[gave] me ideas." By 16, Kalhor won bronze at a competition in Turkey, and two years later she took home gold in slalom and silver in giant at a Lebanese event.

Kalhor isn't expected to medal in Vancouver, but is focused on giving her best effort on the world's biggest stage. Sometimes, it doesn't take a medal to be a winner.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Skier-Marjan-Kalhor-will-be-Iran-s-first-female-?urn=oly,218235

“The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences has good gender balance, including at the professor level, compared with the rest of the university and university college sector. This is related to the fact that NSSS has focused on research that incorporates gender and gender equality perspectives and has set aside funding for this. Research of this type produces valuable knowledge for the field of sport and increases the recruitment of women to academic positions,” wrote the Kif committee in its evaluation. The committee also praises the school not only for seeing the connections between the research profile and the recruitment of women, but for doing something about it as well.

During the award ceremony, Aasland stressed that universities and university colleges bear a great responsibility for strengthening gender equality in Norway.

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=69475

Assolutamente corretto il fatto che Irene voglia parlare dello sport e non della sua fidanzata. Peccato solo che le atlete eterosessuali non si debbano minimamente preoccupare se casualmente raccontano del marito o del fidanzato alla stampa. In ogni caso Irene è una grande atleta la cui vittoria dimostra l'impegno ed il sacrificio oltre, il che non guasta, ad essere una bella ragazza. E le due cose assieme fanno crollare al suolo tutti gli stereotipi sulle lesbiche.

"Pulling all the pieces together, I'm so proud and happy. I can't describe how happy I am. I don't have words for it," said Wust, who broke down crying on the medal podium while the Dutch national anthem was played. "I think I'm the happiest person on Earth right now."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022103839.html

Yes, Wüst came out in the interview, but I don’t think she regrets doing so, I believe she regrets the amount of attention that fact got instead of her high chances of winning medals opposite other favorites from the Czech Republic, Germany and Canada.

Then again, why should we have to think about the consequences when all someone does is mention you’re in a loving relationship with your partner? The only difference here is that this partner is of the same sex.

http://eurout.org/2010/02/14/dutch-ice-skater-ireen-w-st-wants-talk-about-her-job-not-about-her-girlfriend

Una bella storia. Non nascondersi ed essere sè stessi può dare risultati vantaggiosi. Non è la fine del mondo e l'orientamento sessuale, quando manifesto, diventa, come dovrebbe essere un non-argomento.

Murrell, a native Oregonian, opted to live in Portland to figure her next move. And a week after she put a bid on a home, Portland State called with a job opening.

She accepted, yet things would be different this time.

Murrell altered her coaching style and decided she'd be open about her sexuality, proudly placing a picture of herself, partner and twins in the media guide. She remains the only out Division I head women's basketball coach, saying the honesty is easier on her partner, boosters and players.

"It's not like I had a team meeting and said, 'Hey, I'm a lesbian,' " Murrell said. "But if the kids ask, 'Coach, do you have a family?' I tell them. I made a conscious decision this was how it was going to be.

"A lot won't do it because of a fear of the unknown — people not wanting to send their kids to play for you. I did not know how it was going to play out, but it didn't keep me from being authentic and being myself. And it became a nonissue."

in Murrell's first year she had the team tied for third in the Big Sky. Combing Washington for talent, last season Portland State placed second with a 23-10 overall record, advancing to the Women's NIT, where the Vikings lost in the second round to Oregon State.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ncaatournamentwomen/2011382806_ncaaseattle19.html

Potevo esimermi dallo sbattervi in faccia la foto della Murrell? No. Carina, con la frangetta e la collana direi che è davvero l'opposto di come si immagina la donna lesbica.

Randolph 10 days ago was named football coach of a Washington, D.C., high school, which for days brought her media attention around the country, heralding the 29-year-old University of Virginia graduate as the first woman to direct a high school boys football team in the US.

Non posso che rendere omaggio a questa ragazza che ha compiuto un'impresa grandiosa per una giusta causa.

A 22-year-old woman has become the youngest person to row across the Atlantic.

Katie Spotz completed the 2,817 mile journey in 70 days.

She was greeted by her father and brother after reaching Georgetown,Guyana, South America having weathered storms, shark infested seas and even an on board fire.

'The records are just a bonus for Katie. Rowing the Atlantic and raising funds for clean water are the things she really cares about,' said her coach Sam Williams.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1258266/American-Katie-Spotz-youngest-person-row-Atlantic.html

http://rowforwater.com/

A South Korean climber has reached the top of Annapurna in Nepal and claimed a record for becoming the first woman to scale the world's 14 highest peaks.

Oh Eun-sun was shown live on television planting a South Korean flag on the summit of the mountain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8646160.stm

Sept jeunes filles ont embarqué avec Florence Arthaud pour une croisière de trois jours, afin de sensibiliser le grand public aux troubles des conduites alimentaires

Deux superbes voiliers, sept jeunes filles et un guide de choix, la navigatrice au long cours Florence Arthaud en personne. Rien à voir avec une téléréalité, mais le point final, hier matin au club nautique, puis sur les quais, d'une aventure pour préserver la santé des jeunes, appelée « La Croisière des guerrières ».

Les demoiselles, qui viennent de Bordeaux et Saint-Raphaël, suivies respectivement par les professeurs Xavier Pommereau et Michèle Battista, ont été baptisées « guerrières » par rapport au combat qu'elles ont mené contre la maladie. Aujourd'hui guéries, et particulièrement souriantes et ouvertes au monde, elles entendent mettre leur énergie au service d'un projet qui fait la part belle à l'avenir et à la reconstruction.

Florence Arthaud, même blessée à un bras, était hier aux commandes à l'heure de l'embarquement.

« Je suis contente de pouvoir faire partager ma passion de la mer à ces jeunes filles, les faire rêver et voyager. Elles vont connaître le rythme de la voile, la sensation d'une telle excursion mais aussi apprendre les rudiments de la technique. Avec le mistralou léger que l'on nous annonce, ce devrait être particulièrement sympa... »

The Palestinian Women's Soccer League was formed by Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestine Sports Association and former National Security Advisor to late Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

The captain of the Jordanian soccer team added that her team will play against Israel when there is full normalization between Amman and Jerusalem.

Un grande applauso a queste ragazze e alla loro determinazione. Contrariamente a quelle che passano il tempo solo ed esclusivamente tra vestiti, rossetto, make-up ed a corrrere dietro ai maschi dal mattino alla sera. 

Four women have set a new record by becoming the first women to row non-stop around Britain, organisers say.

The Seagals, who have spent over seven weeks in their 24ft (7.3m) boat, Go Commando, completed their 2,010-mile (3,234km) journey at Tower Bridge, London.

Ms Madsen said it had been a "huge test of physical and mental endurance", while Ms Thomasson said she would spend the two-hour rowing shifts "dreaming of a long hot shower, crispy clean cotton sheets on a soft bed and a feast of fresh food".

The women have spent more than 51 days at sea, living in a boat that is so small only two people at a time can sleep in the cabins. The other two have to sit outside in all weathers.

The race is sponsored by Virgin, and the daughter of company boss Sir Richard Branson, Holly, set off the race at Tower Bridge on 1 June.

Sir Richard said he was "over the moon" such "brave women" had won.

While Saudi Arabia is the concerned nation, the campaign is launched in the Usa.

No Women. No Play. is is a campaign by Hadi Al-Mutif Program for Human Rights at the Gulf Institute designed to foster support and momentum to pressure the International Olympic Committee to uphold their charter and ban Saudi Arabia from participating in the 2012 Olympic Games because of the Saudi monarchy’s discrimination against women. According to the official Charter, a country may not prohibit anyone from participating in the Olympics on the basis of race, religion, or gender. We hope this campaign will raise this issue and fulfill the Olympic dreams of many women in the desert kingdom.

On the docket for this event, we have musicians and performers to entertain our guests intermittent with speakers to provide information and rally support on the current situation of women in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

This event in DuPont Circle is the first of many events in our campaign to end gender apartheid in Saudi Arabia. Rather than using any political body to invoke change, we have decided to use the Olympics as our vehicle to raise the gender inequality issue within Saudi Arabia on an international level.