superior?
Carolize Jansen
In research done by the Sports Information and Science Agency (Sisa) in South Africa, the following interesting statistics came to light: when asking women about obstacles they faced in sport: 10% of women between 18 and 24 years mentioned men’s physical strength advantage, compared to the average of 5% of older women. Maybe older women realise that they are likely to live longer that their male counterparts. But before you so readily assume that men are physically superior to women in all aspects, chew on these facts:
l While men’s muscle tissue is stronger than that of women, fatigue in female muscles set in at a slower pace.
l Women’s greater percentage of body fat leads to increased endurance and better performance than men in ultra- long distance events.
l Women have greater flexibility and a smaller physique, useful in many sports. Some achievements women can be very proud of, or, facts to show to a male chauvinist:
l Women hold the records for all ultra-long distance running events lasting more than a day.
l Women hold all the records in ultra- long distance as well as ocean swimming events.
l The only person to have swum the English Channel three times consecutively is a woman.
l A French woman recently successfully completed a solo trek across Antarctica.
Professor Tim Noakes, sports physiologist at the University of Cape Town, says that if a man and a woman run the first 10km of the Comrades in the same time, the woman will win by an hour.
That’s not all – Frith van der Merwe’s spectacular 15th overall position in 1989 would have secured her a first place in all the Comrades races prior to 1963 and her time was only 9,9% slower than Bruce Fordyce’s record. And then, of course, women excel in gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics (70% of South African gymnasts are female), synchronized swimming and equestrian sport.