Cycling needs to lose its ‘podium girls’ – The Guardian

The Belgians famously spent 589 days without an elected government in 2010 and 2011. But when it comes to cycling organisation and governance, it seems they are still in a state of lawlessness. Following in the infamous tradition of the E3 Harelbeke race, the one-day classic in Belgium that used sexist posters as promotion, Lotto Cycling Cup – the organisers of the Flanders Diamond Tour – who oversaw the employment of four women in slight “bikinis” to parade through the VIP area during the race and then appear at the foot of the podium itself as Jolien d’Hoore celebrated a well taken victory in her first race back from a six-week layoff.

That the cycling press is yet again talking about another sexist display, which overshadows d’Hoore’s triumphant back-to-back victories is bad enough, but that her moment of celebration was upstaged by a display that is either degrading, humiliating and demeaning or something out of a Borat-style satire, depending where you sit on the spectrum of offence, is worse. It is the attitude of the race organisers that really sticks in the craw.

In a hastily issued apology – after cyclist journalist Marijn de Vries tweeted a photograph of the podium – the organisers were terribly sorry but went on to blame the local organisers. As with any organisation, there is a buck, and in this case it stops with Lotto Cycling Cup. If they were aware, as seems likely, that women wearing minuscule pieces of clothing that just about covered their boobs and bum were parading around during the day, then they had ample opportunity to impose a dress code. With 118 women lining up to take the start, surely some spare kit would not have been hard to find?

Unless, of course, the organisers had been enjoying the display and chose to turn a blind eye? After all, in our connected world, not all publicity is good but it can be potentially viral. And, really, what’s the fuss over a race unknown outside the quaint little world of women’s cycling when Chris Froome is tearing up the climbs of the Dauphiné?

That this is yet another example of everyday sexism in cycling is almost too mundane to report. That De Vries nearly didn’t bring it to the attention of cycling fans because she feels sick of “moaning” about the sport is truly saddening. But tweet she did, because she feels that it’s important to speak out and challenge things when her sport is bought into disrepute:

Women’s cycling has worked hard to develop a sporting model that is attractive for sponsors, entertaining for fans and on a properly professional footing for the teams involved. It’s a tough battle in a sport where women, in the words of Laura Weislo of Cycling News, are so often reduced to “beautiful ornaments to stand by successful men.”

Reducing the podium of an important women’s race to the level of an outtake from a porno Benny Hill episode does nobody any favours – not the sponsors, not the fans and certainly not the women involved. It really isn’t too much of a stretch to see those barely there bikinis as dehumanising – reducing their wearers to tits, arses and little else.

But perhaps the buck must stop – once again – with the sport’s governing body, the UCI. Brian Cookson had his fingers burned when he jumped to judge the Colombian Bogotá Humana team kit. But criticism over that misstep should not cloud his response when confronted by genuine examples of degrading sexism.

De Vries says she has never seen such a strong reaction before from cycling fans and she hopes that the UCI will make a statement. According to the press in Belgium, the UCI contacted the race organisers to query the use of bikinis in this context. Is it time for a podium dress code – at the minute organisers and sponsors make their own rules – or should this even be a thing in the 21st century?

Of course there are women who are happy to be paid to take their kit off, but that doesn’t make what happened in Flanders any less appropriate. This was not so much a podium presentation, more a pole dance waiting to happen. In the sexism/empowerment paradigm, it’s not difficult to spot the genuinely empowered women in these images – clue: they’re the ones who just competed in a bike race.

In the 21st century, is the “podium girl” really necessary? Kathryn Brown has worked as a race organiser on the men’s Tour of Britain and is happy to defend the role that podium hostesses – not “girls” – play in the protocol of the podium presentation. She says they play an important part in the seamless running of the protocol, effortlessly manoeuvring riders and dignitaries into position and ensuring there are no on-stage incidents. It’s a role that is a far cry from that of the local beauty queens who would present stage winners with a bouquet back at the dawn of cycling’s history. But it is, as she readily acknowledges, a role that is not gender specific – and she would never ask the women involved to wear anything she wouldn’t be happy to wear herself.

If there’s any good to come out of this tawdry little spectacle, it may be the death of the “podium girl”. The contrast between healthy looking celebrating cyclists and the rather dour looking women in their tiny triangles of black cloth is the clearest indication, if one were needed that the podium girl is one anachronism that cycling no longer needs. Or wants.

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