London Olympic 2012

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, celebrated in Athens was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. Coubertin never entertained female athlete in this international sports event. According to him females were not worthy to participate and it will be bad or wrong if female participates in the event. Whatever the thought of Coubertin and people like him were in those days but after 116 years at present in London Olympic 2012 the participation of female in the Olympic history is the highest till now. Among the 204 participating countries in London Olympics 2012, every country has minimum of one female athlete. If it same goes on then in the Olympic history London Olympic 2012 will be known as female Olympic year.

In London Olympic 2012 for the first time female athletes are participating from Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia at the same time this is the first time in Olympic history where female participation is more or less same to male athlete. From United States America the participation of female athlete is 269 where as male athlete is 261. If we compare past, the participation of female athlete were hardly few, in 1900 Paris Olympic out of total 997 athletes only 22 athlete were female. In the Olympic history this is the first time where, in 26 games event females are participating.

Female participation in Olympic has not increased at once. It is since last year’s Beijing Olympics in 2008 world has witnessed lot of changes. Among these the role of Middle East’s contribution is the highest, the international Olympic Committee has encouraged Middle East countries to allow female participants from their country. Beside that during last year’s Olympic, many new games have been introduced which has increased the participation of female in Olympic. In 2000 females were allowed to participate in taekwondo, weight lifting and shooting where as female boxing is introduced this year in London Olympics 2012. 1n 1900 before 112 years  females were allowed to participate only in cricket, sailing, horse riding, tennis and golf.

In nearly 100 years participation of females in Olympic has increased. In 1908 London Olympic out of total participating athlete only 1.8% were females. Where as in 2008 Beijing Olympics out of total 10947 athletes’ 4639 athletes were female. In 2012 London Olympic 1100 athletes are participating from 204 countries and female participation is more than 40 %. The American association of university women’s public policy and government relation director Lisa Maatz said that countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Brunei, has stated a good example to the world by allowing female athlete to participate in Olympic games. Olympic teaches us to be united by forgetting discrimination and for this London Olympic would be known. It will also encourage more female participation in 2016 Reo De Janeiro Olympic.

Afgani female sprinter Tahmina Kohistani is the only female who is representing Afghanistan in London Olympic 2012. A 22 year old Tahmina is the third female athlete in the history of Afghanistan to participate in Olympic. She's not so interested in winning gold than in inspiring Afghan girls to take up sport. In her interview she said that it is like a dream come true for her to qualify in Olympics. Her appearance in the stadium was unusual as she was not wearing any sports bra or shorts like other female athlete instead of that the afgani sprinter appeared with a head scarf and full sleeves sweater. Although her chances of winning the 100-meter sprint are lower than those of her competitors, she is very glad to be in London. "What's important for me is to take part in the Olympic Games - for me, my people and my homeland."

Tahmina is the only woman allowed to represent her country in London this year. She has been running and dreaming of taking part in the Olympic Games for eight years already. Her intensive training for the summer games started six months ago at Kabul's Ghazi stadium but technical restrictions have made it tough. Karim, her trainer, says that she could "win gold if she had better training conditions." She has also not had an easy time of it because of the poor security situation and social restrictions. She has been insulted several times for choosing sports. People all over the world are happy that she is encouraging females in Afghanistan to choose sports but on the other hand in her homeland and outside there are many people who hate Tahmina because of her decision to be a sportsperson. The people who hate Tahmina not only include male but also females. According to them she is going against the religion but Tahmina want to prove them wrong and says that people need time to get used to more modern conditions. But she is glad that she is very lucky with her family who always supports her and encourages her in her decision. Though Tahmina has fewer chances to win but she is glad that maybe her attempt to inspire Afgan girl to take sport would come up with bright colors. This would be worth much more than a gold medal for her and her country.  After Olympic when she will go back to Kabul she is planning to open a sport academy for women so that Afghanistan can give more female participants in future for sporting events like Olympics.