Woman who posed as man to become judo champ finally gets gold – 50 years after being stripped of it
So here’s another female warrior in the long tradition of Mu-Lan and Joan of Arc — a woman dressed as a man to fight. The article specifically states that there were no rules against women competing in this competition, but I do wonder — did she intentionally pose a man or was she simply mistaken for one? The article states that she bound her breasts, but 50 years ago, with no such thing as a sports bra, I would’ve too.
But that’s a minor point and simply a matter of personal curiosity. The truth is — female or not — she earned her medal and I’m glad to see a wrong redressed. I also admire her for her dedication to her team, that in 1959, she did admit it so her team could retain their title. But this does bring up mixed feelings for me:
- * She stood by her team, but her team didn’t stand by her, despite the fact that without her, they wouldn’t have gained their title.
- * The fact that, according to the article, she was forced to admit she was a woman — not that she’d broken contest rules or had intentionally misled anyone one. She was stripped of her medal because of what she was, not because of what she’d done.
- * Why did it take 50 years to redress this?
Don’t get me wrong — I’m glad she’s finally had a her medal re-instated it. Better after 50 years than never. But I think it shows that we’ve still go a long way to go.
I agree why does it still take so long…however it’s our jobs to stand tall and keep going forward. Nice post and thanks so much for visiting our blog.
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
@Dorothy: You’re right — it is our job to stand tall. I was particularly inspired by the fact that she took her experience and used it to pave the way for other women.
[...] Female Judo Champion Finally Receives Gold. A Judo champion finally has her gold medal reinstated after 50 years. [...]