# In which sports do men and women compete equally? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 6, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062 "2009-09-06T15:21:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/42 "2009-09-07T13:20:59Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > As a one time event, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in tennis As your link makes clear, that was much more of a stunt than a valid match. No one seriously views men and women as even close to equal in tennis. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/43 "2009-09-07T13:42:45Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > As a one time event, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in tennis: > > [The Battle of the Sexes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/44 "2009-09-07T13:47:51Z")
Ultimate Frisbee, while not a seriously professional sport, is often played coed. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/45 "2009-09-07T13:57:45Z")
OP: Do you mean sports where men and women \*do \*compete against each other, or where they _could_? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/46 "2009-09-07T17:42:18Z")
> [@kombatminipig](#): > > OP: Do you mean sports where men and women \*do \*compete against each other, or where they _could_? The former. Horse trials, sailing, and sledding seem to be the three sports so far. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/47 "2009-09-07T17:55:26Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > As a one time event, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in tennis: > > [The Battle of the Sexes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)) Uh, what? No women on the tour, even the top 5 women, could consistently beat any man in the top 50 at tennis. And Riggs was 55 when he played Billy Jean King. You know that whole thing was just a publicity stunt, right? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/48 "2009-09-07T19:00:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Is there an American pro-league of curling that is coed? There’s really not professional curling. There are “cashspiels” in Canada, but nothing like … oh, games between something like the Saskatoon Sliders and the Edmonton Eight-Enders. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/49 "2009-09-07T19:14:18Z")
Does anybody know, could the world’s no.1 female snooker player actually beat the world’s no.32 male most of the time? If so, why aren’t there women in the world snooker championship? Getting to 32 seed garners more prestige than being the women’s no.1. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/50 "2009-09-07T21:33:00Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Does anybody know, could the world’s no.1 female snooker player actually beat the world’s no.32 male most of the time? If so, why aren’t there women in the world snooker championship? Getting to 32 seed garners more prestige than being the women’s no.1. Allison Fisher was top banana in women’s snooker between 1983-1995, winning seven individual world championships during this period. She entered the male ranking system in 1994/1995 at #202, but failed to penetrate the sport’s upper levels. In 1995 Fisher moved to the US, where her record as a pool player is totally top class. Her bio page states that: ‘Her tournament record compiled in the 13 years since coming to the US is unmatched in the history of professional cue-sports among men or women. She has won more 9-Ball tournaments than the total wins of all her pro competitors combined, and over 3 times as many titles as the player with the 2nd most wins in that span.’ [Allison Fisher](http://nycgrind.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/allison-fisher-small.jpg) (aka the Duchess of Doom). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/51 "2009-09-07T21:45:47Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara;11528761 (quoting Allison Fisher’s Web site)] ‘Her tournament record compiled in the 13 years since coming to the US is unmatched in the history of professional cue-sports **among men or women**.’ [/QUOTE] (Emphasis added.) I’ve seen similar claims for female champions and it always irks me, since at least some of those wins were in events that \*\*men aren’t allowed \*\*to enter. The statement is phrased to imply that her playing is superior to any man’s, rather that she has more opportunities for winning than men do at that level. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/52 "2009-09-07T22:34:46Z")
I would like to see how Pat Summit would do coaching a mens college BB team. It’s a moot point since she will never get the chance. For those that don’t know her, she is the best women’s college coach ever. > **[Pat Summitt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Summitt)** > > 18× NCAA Regional—Final Four (1982, 1984, 1986–1989, 1991, 1995–1998, 2000, 2002–2008) > 16× SEC Tournament (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010–2012) > Patricia Susan Summitt (née Head; June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American women's college basketball head coach who accrued 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball ... What’s really amazing is she was named head coach at UT at age 22, right out of college. She never learned under another coach. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/53 "2009-09-08T01:45:22Z")
Dragon boating has mixed crews, as well as women’s and open (essentially men’s) divisions. Mixed (minimum 8 men and 8 women - 20 paddlers in the boat) and Open crews seem to be able to compete in similar times, although women’s crews tend to be slightly slower, IME. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/54 "2009-09-08T06:16:14Z")
AIS - Vert (Agressive Inline Skating performed in a halfpipe) - there is a combined men and women vert event in the X Games, Gravity Games, etc. The “Fabiola Rule” - named after Fabiola da Silva who often competed with the dudes - in 2000 allowed female skaters to compete with male skaters. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/55 "2009-09-08T10:52:14Z")
Today, men and women have separate shooting events at the Olympics, but as recently as 1976, they competed against teach other. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, an American woman named Margaret Murdock tied for the lead in small bore shooting with an American man named Lanny Bassman. Both of them wanted a playoff to determine who’d get the gold medal, but the rules already provided for a tiebreaker ,and Bassman won the gold medal. [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mu/margaret-murdock-1.html](http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mu/margaret-murdock-1.html) However, and here’s the nicest part of the story, Bassman thought that was unfair, and during the playing of the national anthem, he had Murdock stand on the top step of the podium, and he had her hold the gold medal with him. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/56 "2009-09-08T13:58:35Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Ultimate Frisbee, while not a seriously professional sport, is often played coed. Well, it’s often _played_ that way, but so is volleyball and touch football. At serious levels of Ultimate women do not compete against men. No women play for competitive teams in Open divisions (even though they technically could). There are separate Women’s divisions. And there are Co-ed divisions (even serious competitive ones in the last few years), but they universally set some minimum number of women per side on the field. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/57 "2009-09-08T15:49:05Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, an American woman named Margaret Murdock tied for the lead in small bore shooting with an American man named Lanny Bassman. Psst - check post #25. (And note that it’s Bassham.) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/58 "2009-09-08T16:10:59Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > As your link makes clear, that was much more of a stunt than a valid match. No one seriously views men and women as even close to equal in tennis. That’s why I included the qualifier “As a one time event”. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/59 "2009-09-08T16:18:38Z")
[Korfball](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball), played mostly in the Netherlands and Belgium (and not even very widely there - it is considered to be somewhat of a dork’s sport), is played by teams consisting of 4 men and 4 women. I see that our resident Dutch person **Maastricht** was already in here and didn’t even mention it … for shame 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/60 "2009-09-10T18:30:09Z")
It may be playing fast and loose with the definition of “sport”, but roller derby teams (depending on the league) can have both men and women competing against one another on the track at the same time; these days it’s pretty much female-dominated, though. ---
**Author:** ![SteveKS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SteveKS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveKS)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062/61 "2010-02-20T18:51:16Z")
That match was indeed a study money-making by manipulating public emotions. Most people don’t recall that in his 50’s, Bobby Riggs routinely challenged the women’s champion to such a match, and he routinely won. (It was Margaret Court the year before, for example.) Billy Jean King’s winning was news-worthy, because it was sort of like “Man Bites Dog.” Also, Riggs got everyone into a lather with his sexist rantings leading up to the match. $$$$$$ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-sports-do-men-and-women-compete-equally/509062.md?page=4)