Geno Auriemma keeps fielding the same sexist questions.
According to the sports website For The Win, Auriemma, the coach of the U.S. Women’s Olympic basketball team, was recently asked if he thinks it’s bad for basketball that his team is so dominant.
While it’s true ― the U.S. Women’s team is steamrolling the rest of the world when it comes to basketball ― Auriemma wants to know why people aren’t asking the same question of Michael Phelps or the men’s basketball team, who are also dominating in their respective sports.
According to For The Win, a reporter asked Auriemma: “People have been asking about whether the dominance of the USA team is bad for the game, but that’s not being said on the men’s side. What are your thoughts on that?”
Revel in Auriemma’s response below:
We live in that Trumpian era where it’s OK to be sexist and degrade people that are good, just because they’re the opposite sex. We are what we are. We’re never going to apologize for being that good. We’re never going to apologize for setting a standard that other people aspire to achieve.
We got a guy in the pool with a USA swim cap on who nobody can beat. And if he wasn’t in swimming, there would be a lot of other guys with gold medals. So, it is what it is. The world needs times when such great, great teams or great individuals are doing great things, that other people can talk about and other people say, “Wow, wouldn’t it be great to be at that level?”
These are Olympians. They’re supposed to play at a high level. They’re professionals, they’re supposed to put on a show, they’re supposed to entertain. So, what are we supposed to do? Just go out there and win by a little? We’re not bad for women’s basketball, just like I say at UConn, we’re not bad for women’s basketball.
What’s bad for women’s basketball is when nobody’s great, because then you could say, “You know what? I don’t think anybody really knows how to play this game.” I think people will say that there are some really good teams out here and when you see them play each other, they’re great games. Serbia was up 20 the other day and lost to Canada. These are great games. We just happen to be somewhere else right now. That’s okay. I don’t mind.
Auriemma also coaches the UConn women’s basketball team, which is dominant in their league as well. The 62-year-old coach fielded the same question about that team this past March and he had a similarly awesome response.
Perhaps we can stop asking questions about female athletes we wouldn’t ask about men?
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