We need to talk about the Paris Olympics mascot

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The key talking point for this week is the Paris Olympics mascot - which is women’s sport adjacent, I guess? Scroll down to the Fun Fact and find out what it is, then let us know what you think, pls.

We also have a really exciting project in the pipeline that IS women’s sports related. It’ll be launching post Olympics and a few Level The Field readers have provided some feedback and tips - so thank you to that group of people, we really appreciate it and can’t wait to share this special piece of work with the Missing Perspectives community.

The Australian Paralympic swimming team has been announced and includes seven debutants at their first ever Paralympic Games! This includes 15-year-old Holly Warn (yes, you read that right) who you need to go and follow ASAP.

Some other updates: Australian soccer star Cortnee Vine, who has to date been competing in A-League Women, has accepted a contract to play in the USA National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL). She has signed a three-year deal with North Carolina Courage. So let’s start looking at flights to the US, yeah?

Speaking of NSWL, Phoebe from the Missing Perspectives team wants to pop in and recommend this amazing documentary about the Angel City team - it’s a deep dive into what’s needed to boost women’s professional sport and how a team of women came together to build a new women’s football club. You can catch it on quite a few platforms, depending on where you’re reading this newsletter from!

While we’re on recommendations, we also loved this interview with Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario. She unpacks her hopes for the upcoming Games, her post-sport plans, and the importance of equal pay in sport.

From this week, we’re going to be profiling young female athletes at the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics who might not be on your radar at the moment. We’re convinced they are going to become BIG names, so watch this space and make sure you’re following all of them.

The Missing Perspectives team xx

PS - Wondering what a day in the life is like for one of our sports reporters? Here’s an average day for Sarah Burt - go and follow her while you’re at it!

Who is Slovenia rock climber Janja Garnbret?

At just 25 years old, Janja Garnbret has already made sporting history.

The Slovenian climbing phenom became the first-ever female Olympic gold medalist in the sport at the Tokyo 2020 Games, a feat that cemented her status as one of the greatest climbers of all time. As we approach the 2024 Paris Olympics, it's the perfect time to get to know Janja and her remarkable achievements.

Garnbret's journey to the top (pun absolutely intended) has been nothing short of remarkable. She discovered her passion for climbing at the young age of seven, scaling doors, cupboards, and trees, inspiring her non-climbing parents to put that energy elsewhere.

She told Red Bull TV, “I remember when we were kids, the others were just playing ball or other games. I didn't want to get off the wall. I’d be on it for an hour and a half at a time, moving left to right, right to left, up, down. Even back then, I knew this was it. This was what I wanted to do.”

Her rise in the climbing space was meteoric.

Read the full profile on missingperspectives.com.

New research explores whether sporting events raise awareness of violence against women

New research from academics at La Trobe University has found that the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and its One Million Stars to End Violence campaign was an important community initiative, but did not raise public awareness of the issue and “skirted around tough discussions.”

Dr Alana Thomson, lead researcher at La Trobe Senior Lecturer in Sports Management, says that the connection between sporting events and violence against women is an emerging area of research. She believes that it is vital for major sporting events to raise awareness of the link between sporting events and domestic violence, as “past research has shown that family violence rates can increase by up to 40 percent around football grand final events.”

“This can be due to several surrounding factors such as increased alcohol consumption and problem gambling, and the relaxation in standards of acceptable behaviour,” she says. “Before this paper, no empirical studies looked into if and how sport events can help raise awareness about violence against women, so we responded to calls by sport event scholars for critical perspectives into this issue.”

The researchers found that while official messaging and media coverage of the campaign at the Commonwealth Games was a successful community engagement initiative and was well intentioned, it “skirted around the tough discussions of violence against women and did not raise the public’s awareness of violence against women.”

What do you think? Should we be seeing more campaigns at major sporting events? Email us and let us know!

A lil’ sponsored post from Monash University

As you can probably tell if you’ve made it this far down the newsletter, or following us for a while, we love a female trailblazer.

We recently got to sit down with Dr Danielle Ramirez to talk about how she’s helping reshape women’s education in Australia. One of the forces driving Dr. Ramirez’s advocacy for breaking down barriers for women is her 11-year-old daughter. “She is in grade six and is the school captain,” she says proudly. “As a young woman, I encourage her to change the world and kick goals. I have a generational calling to do that for her.. I love the idea of inspiring women to go for it, to be the best professional they want to be,” she says.

What’s not to love? Learn more about Dr Ramirez’s journey here.