Some of these are famous, while others are lesser known (at least by me). There are other features, such as muscle anatomy, statistics on TV coverage and the pay gap, influential sports teams and a bibliography.Ī variety of sports are represented and there is a diverse selection of athletes. At the beginning there’s a timeline, from the first Olympic Games around 776 BCE (women weren’t even allowed to watch, let alone compete) through to the present day, in which women are breaking records but are still ‘fighting for equal access, exposure and pay’. They are arranged in chronological order of birth, from figure skater Madge Syers to gymnast Simone Biles. Each athlete has two pages, containing biography, quotes and energetic illustrations. Published this year by Wren & Rook (Hachette Children’s), this book was bought as a gift for an eleven-year-old and I had to read it before the wrapping paper went on… Obviously that report writer hadn’t read this book! Beautifully illustrated and concisely written, it aims to inspire and encourage girls to achieve success in sports, featuring fifty female athletes who broke boundaries, overcame difficulties, achieved world records and followed their dreams. I even saw one report which claimed a ‘lack of role models’. We often hear negative things in the media about women in sport – unequal pay, lack of coverage on TV, body shaming, girls not participating in sports at school.
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