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| | • | La participación de las mujeres en los Juegos Olímpicos subió del 1,6% en 1900 al 38,2% en 2000. | | | • | Por primera vez, las mujeres compitieron en el mismo número de deportes de equipo que los hombres. Los deportes adicionales para las mujeres incluyen el pentatlón moderno, taekwondo, waterpolo y levantamiento de pesas. Se agregaron dos equipos más en handball y hockey. Se agregó el trampolín como disciplina adicional, y el ciclismo (pista de 500 metros), el tiro (ball trap y skeet), el nado sincronizado (dueto), el lanzamiento de martillo, el salto con garrocha y la marcha de 20 km (reemplaza a la de 10 km) se agregaron como eventos. | |
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One of the greatest values my parents taught me was a firm belief that we all have something valuable to offer the world as well as a responsibility to use this gift for the good of others.
They encouraged me to follow my calling, develop my talents and pursue my dreams. And they encouraged me to contribute these talents to the many communities I am part of – from my local community, to the wider community of women and African Americans, to the athletic community, to the global community. My mother, the original Anita DeFrantz, who is now Professor Emeritus at Univ. San Francisco gave me permission as a woman to achieve in the world.
As a child and young adult, I certainly knew that I had a love of sport and a desire to give back to these communities somehow. I never could have imagined, however, that one day I would go on to compete in the Olympic Games or become the first American woman elected to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as the first African American elected. Nor did I have any inkling that I would be the first woman in the 103-year history of the IOC to be elected vice president or that I would be able to help make sports available for everyone and change young peoples’ lives through sport.
I first discovered my love of sport at the age of four when I learned to swim. That summer my parents decided it was time for my brother to learn to swim. By default I ended up spending a lot of time going to pools and to state parks to swim in the lakes. It was a wonderful time. It wasn’t until I was seven or eight, however, that I had a chance to take part in competitions and join a team. That was when I first participated in a swimming team at Frederick Douglas Public Park. That was also perhaps some of my earliest experiences transcending social barriers. Our team competed against kids from the Amateur Athletic Union or the Riviera Country Club. We were definitely not in the same competitive class as they were. Unfortunately, my experience on that team was short lived as after only two years our coach went to another state. That was the end of my competitive athletic career until I got to college.
I arrived at Connecticut College and I was determined to try out for the basketball team. This was largely due to the fact that back in Indiana “Hoosier Hysteria” – Indiana’s fanatical love of high school basketball – was a very real thing for the boys, but did not apply to girls’ basketball. So, even though I didn’t really know that much about the sport, I tried out for the team. The coach said to me, “Anita, take the high post.” I thought to myself, “I don’t know what that is . . .,” but I saw an empty space on the court and figured it logically must mean that I should stand there. The next thing I knew I was the sixth member of a six-person college basketball team. I had a great time and played all four years.
My true athletic calling, however, came to me my sophomore year in college when I was introduced to rowing. It was just an opportunity presented. I was walking across campus and I saw this strange looking vessel. I enquired into what it might be and asked the man standing by it, “What is that?” He replied, “It’s for rowing and you’ll be perfect for it!” I immediately thought to myself, “This guy is giving me a line. I’ve never been perfect for anything.” Just as it had happened with basketball, I tried out despite my lack of knowledge about the sport, made the team and discovered that I loved it.
I loved everything about it. I just find rowing so compelling. You are able to be with a team, but you don’t have to speak to anyone. It’s competitive, but you don’t do injury to another person. It is the ultimate team sport as you literally have to work together in unison, as one, to perform, and at the end of the event you succeed together. There is no high point person and no low point person. It is just the boat that crossed the line first or not. Further, you are outdoors on the water, working hard to move the boat across the water. It provides time for meditation. It’s beautiful to be out there in the elements.
In my family, education and service were equally important. After my graduation from Connecticut College in 1974, I went on to the University of Pennsylvania Law School to become an attorney and to Vesper boat Cub to learn to compete at the elite level of the sport.
Five years after my fortuitous encounter with that strange looking vessel and the man on Connecticut College campus, I won the bronze medal in women's eight – the first time that women's rowing was ever contested at the Games – as captain of the U.S. Women’s Rowing team at the 1976 Montreal Games. I devoted the next decade to sport, competing on every national team from 1975 to 1980, and won a silver medal in the 1978 World Championships. More than competition, however, I was busy getting involved with the organizational aspects of sport. I became a member of the Board of Directors of my boat club, Vesper, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Rowing Association. I finished my law degree in 1977 and began practicing law at the Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia that year. Ten years following my initial triumph at the Olympic Games, I was elected to the IOC. Another decade passed and I was elected a vice president of the IOC.
Today, I am the chair of the IOC's Women and Sport Commission and the IOC Athletes' Commission Election Committee. I am also a member of the IOC's Juridical Commission, the Finance Commission, the Coordination Commission for London 2012 Olympic Games, the Sport and Law Commission and the U.S. Olympic Committee Board of Directors.
Above all, it is my work with youth that brings me most joy through organizations such as the Amateur Athletic Foundation and Kids In Sports among others. No doubt rooted in the values my parents, especially my mother, passed down to me, what I enjoy most is helping other people succeed. That’s an ongoing opportunity for enjoyment. Through a convergence of many things I have been able to live out my parents’ creed following my path, achieving my goals and all the while giving back to the many communities I am part of. Most extraordinary of all, I have been able to take my work on behalf of kids and belief in peoples’ rights to exist, live and strive into the area of sports.
I believe that sport is a birthright. It belongs to us all. It’s part of our species. I believe that humans enjoy sport because it involves a very high level of thought. It’s the thought that helps direct the body through the dimensions of time and space. Which all sports include. It’s the joy of being in the zone when that happens – the zone of excellence where things just happen. I first experienced in college basketball where I now know it was a line outlet pass that I made to my teammate at the other end of the court. All I know is I took down a rebound and the next thing I knew she was setting up a jump shot at the other end of the basketball court. How did it happen? I cannot tell you except that we were in the zone of excellence. If we can do that in sport, then we can do that in the rest of our lives.
I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I will continue to devote the rest of my life to ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy their right to sport and to discover the zone of excellence for themselves.
For more information, please visit:
Amateur Athletic Foundation (http://www.aafla.org)
Kids in Sports (http://www.kidsinsportsla.org)
International Olympic Committee (http://www.olympic.org) | |  | MARCAR ESTE ARTÍCULO PARA REVISO | |
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