This other thread reminded me of a question I wanted to ask.
This past Friday, U.S. athlete David O’Connor won the individual gold in the three-day equestrian showjumping event. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that until the final round, his closest competitor, and the lead contender for the silver, was a woman (until she knocked off a couple of rails and wound up in sixth or seventh). Not that it matters, but I seem to recall she was from Greece.
So my question is: How many Olympic events are mixed gender? That is, with men and women competing head-to-head in the same athletic pool, pursuing the same medals. In swimming, gymnastics, track, and everything else I can think of, the men compete against men, and the women separately compete against women. But in equestrian, at least, they’re all together. Is that unique? Or are there others?
Yes, it’s unique. As a matter of fact, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire just had this as one of their questions, $4,000 or so I think. It was “what’s the only summer Olympic sport that has intergender competition,” or something like that.
W A R N I N G - The following post contains no useful information at all.
Cervaise,
Where you been?
Of course, since I clicked on the link in your sig, I now know where you’ve been, but I still had to ask. I want to register a complaint - you know why.
Bad Carvaise! My list is getting short - pleasepleaseplease, get back to work!
Thanks!
BTW, I never knew that any Olympic Events were mixed. Thanks for pointing it out - I will try to find the answer for you.
Thanks to all for the quick responses and good information. The SDMB, may I just say right now, is the best message board in the history of human thought. Or the history of computers, which is probably more relevant.
Today, male and female shooters take part in separate tournaments, but they USED to compete together. In fact, at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, there was a tie between and American man and an American woman for the gold medal in rifle shooting… but there were arcane tiebreaking procedures, and the man won the gold.
Both people agreed that a playoff was the only fair way to determine the winner, but rules are rules, and he was given the gold. But he had her stand on the top platform alongside him , and they BOTH held the gold medal while the anthem played.
Indeed, since women proved quite capable of shooting as well as men, I don’t see why a separate women’s shooting event was established.
I am interested in the following information. I hope someone can point me to a source for it:
There are some sports where the men don’t play, and some where the women don’t play. Among those which DO have a men’s competition and a women’s competition, I’d like to see a list of which sports the men do better in, and which sports the women do better in.
I’m just curious to see if there are any patterns. For example, there’s a UL that men have better upper-body strength, while women have better endurance. According to that, the women should have better times running the marathon, which they do not. Just wondering.
I want to register a complaint - you know why.