After all, women and men play sports together all the time for fun, and there is a great deal of overlap in women s and men s athletic abilities. For example, Badminton Mixed Doubles was a new event in the 1996 Olympics. The medal winners came from Asian countries which tend to dominate the game. South Korea won the gold and silver while China won the bronze. Equestrian is the main sport in which women and men compete together.
Women do very well in equestrian events compared with men.
A German woman, Isabell Werth, won the gold medal in the dressage event, which involved getting the horse to perform 38 compulsory movements. Women in Atlanta also won medals in individual jumping and individual three-day event, which involves dressage, jumping, and endurance. In fact, a wife and husband team from the U.S., Karen and Bill O Connor, captured the silver medal in the Team Three-Day Event. Copyright 2000, The Feminist Majority Foundation and New Media Publishing Inc.