Why aren’t there more female jockeys? Or F1 drivers? When it comes to sport and women, there is plenty of discussion of the merits of (say) women’s football or tennis versus the men’s game. But when it comes to sports where women can actually compete alongside men, have we given up?

Four years on from the Sky Sports sexism row, which started over a female linesman in a man’s world, we seem no further down the road in terms of accepting or promoting women in roles that could be filled by either sex. Three recent stories bring this home (see below for details). From Michelle Payne to Susie Wolff, the theme is the same: institutional prejudice and resistance to women competing alongside men.

The push for women’s sport to gain greater acceptance is, largely, a struggle for attention, both of the audience and the media. In the meantime, we are forgetting the struggle for opportunity. That means we cut off a huge talent pool and a diversity of personalities that would make sport far more interesting.

Anyway, to the stories of the week. No prizes for guessing what comes first…

ATHLETICS
And you thought Fifa was bad. Here’s what you need to know about the IAAF report. And – how Russia did it.

Some questions: where does this leave the IOC and Putin?  Has Seb Coe got what it takes to sort this out? His comments so far would suggest maybe not.

FOOTBALL
Africa wins at youth football. What goes wrong in the adult version?

The CR7 ego film has landed.

Premier league stadiums and residential poverty.

Why leave early?

Chelsea crisis: is José Mourinho coming to the end of the 10-year managerial success cycle? And has the club lost its identity?

Why are footballers’ teeth so bad?

The 2018 World Cup will feature a new soccer official: an antiracism inspector.

WOMEN
So many questions, so little time. Let’s start with… Why does sport lack female coaches?

Michelle Payne’s Melbourne Cup win reveals chauvinistic side of Australian horse racing.

Susie Wolff retires from F1: “it isn’t going to happen“.

TENNIS
Two things stand out from this fascinating piece on Anna Kournikova. One – she was part of a marketing monster; two – Nick Bollettieri is really creepy.

Crunching numbers: are two first serves ever better than one?

Nadal should have a much better 2016, for sure.

Here are some tips on how to beat Djokovic (not that it happens very often).

BASKETBALL
LeBron James is very very powerful.

NFL
The knock-on effect of DeflateGate: Tom Brady has something to prove.

Indiana’s ‘Peyton’ baby boom.

An interesting defence: if it’s OK to have porn trademarks, why not ‘redskins’? (Conflating racism with sexism is one answer which seems to have escaped Washington in this case…)

CRICKET
Cricket has a lot to learn from rugby in terms of World Cups.

Can Shane Warne get Americans to play cricket?

RUNNING
What do we think about when we run?

RUGBY
Well, that didn’t quite go as planned. The Sam Burgess saga dissected.

A history of the haka.

GOLF
Finally, more on Woods’ caddie and that book. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

 

That’s it, see you next Tuesday