Encountering Fury Over Bikini Rule, Handball League Signals ‘Likely’


While competing in a tournament in Romania, Lucie Marie Kretzschmar, a beach handball player for Germany, noticed that a front row spectator was carefully filming with her phone.

While off the field, he saw female players wearing small bikini bottoms zoom in on their bodies, as required by the sports federation. He later saw him in two other games, re-recording the players.

The 2019 tournament left a question for Ms. Kretzschmar and her teammates: Was the audience there to watch them play as elite athletes or to stare at their bodies?

“It really made me think, ‘OK, maybe they don’t watch us as professional actors,'” said Ms. Kretzschmar, “it’s like watching girls in bikinis in their spare time.”

Event organizers eventually asked the man to leave, but the team’s question persisted, along with other concerns. sexism and double standards that affect female athletes at all levels of competition and in areas such as sports. Gymnastics, badminton and tennis.

On Wednesday, following international outrage over the issue, Hassan Moustafa, president of the International Handball Federation, said it was “very likely” that the new rules would come into effect.

Last month, Norway’s women’s beach handball team 1500 euro fine for those who wear shorts instead of bikini bottoms A penalty to the bronze medal championship game in Bulgaria, leading to widespread condemnation, a petition against the rule and an offer from the singer Pink to pay the fine.

Teams from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and American Samoa have stepped up the pressure for the sport’s governing body, the IHF, to change its rules.

IHF, women wearing bikini bottoms “by sitting tight and cutting at an upward angle towards the top of the leg.” Bikini bottoms should not be more than four inches around the edge. Men, on the other hand, can wear shorts up to four inches above the knees, as long as they’re not “too baggy.”

The Norwegian handball federation proposed last week that the IHF should repeal the bikini bottom rule, referring to the double standard of dress for male and female athletes. “Players should have two to four options to choose from,” says the proposition.

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the IHF said it would not make any changes until the international conference to be held in November.

Mr. Mustafa said in a statement that the federation has decided to require female players to wear bikini bottoms because there are rules for beach volleyball played on the same surface.

The IHF also said it was “unfortunate” for Norwegian players to wear shorts during the Olympics, in violation of league rules.

“Athletes’ achievements have been overshadowed by the timing of their protest and campaigns,” the organization said.

The Danish Handball Federation wrote in a letter to the IHF in May that many Danish players have decided not to compete in this year’s tournament because they don’t feel comfortable in bikinis.

“Many feel completely uncomfortable having to wear such a tiny piece of clothing that does not contain more than underwear,” the letter said. The organization said the Danish federation had applied for an exemption from the rules so its players could wear shorts, but the request was denied.

Morten Frandsen Holmen, head coach of the Danish women’s team, said, “If you Google ‘beach handball’, you’ll be asked, ‘Is this jersey important for the sport? ?’” In interviews, players from several teams said that worrying about their bikini bottoms slipping out of place kept them away from the game.

Kare Geir Lio, president of the Norwegian Handball Federation, said Norway has complained repeatedly about the necessity of the IHF since 2006, on the grounds that some women are embarrassed by the fact that so much of their bodies are exposed and that the requirement is insensitive to some. cultural norms.

For example, in American Samoa, where many people dress conservatively, the bikini requirement particularly bothers young beach handball players, players and coaches in the region said.

When the area’s junior beach handball team won the 2017 regional championship, players ages 15 to 17 didn’t want to wear bikini bottoms to compete at the next level, according to CJ Sagapolutele Floor Sr., head coach of CJ Sagapolutele Floor Sr. set.

However, the IHF has informed the league that players who usually wear shorts must wear bikini bottoms if they want to compete at the world championships in Mauritius.

“I needed to get permission from the parents first,” said Mr. Sagapolutele Floor, who is also vice-president of the Oceania Continental Handball Federation. The parents eventually agreed, but the girls said they were embarrassed when they saw photos of themselves from the game, including photos with her legs open.

He said that candidate athletes prefer not to participate in the league due to clothing. “It just doesn’t seem right for men to be able to wear shorts and jerseys and women to wear bikinis and sports bras,” he added.

Naomi Mataua Aasa, beach handball player for the American Samoan team, said the rule caused humiliation for female players.

He said the girls were sexually harassed by male actors because of their uniforms, and the photos posted on social media included embarrassing shots of their bodies.

He noted that the uniform rules are “we’re there to put on a show rather than be marked as equal athletes.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *