Women starred at 2022 Winter Olympics, but men photographed most of the action – Yahoo Sports

Millions of moments were captured by photographers at the 2022 Winter Olympics: From sky-high aerial action and blink-and-youll-miss-it speed to raucous team celebrations and the solitary, still seconds in between.

But while women were responsible for many of the most memorable moments from the Beijing Games, most of their achievements as well as their disappointments were documented by men.

The Beijing Winter Games were technically the most gender equal in history, with women representing 45 percent of all athletes, but the media covering the Olympics were far less gender balanced. The International Olympic Committee helped highlight this disparity when the organization released the final number of validated media accreditations following the Closing Ceremony.

In Beijing, 9,388 individuals received media credentials. That total includes three categories: press organizations (1,952); rights-holding broadcasters (3,607); and host-broadcaster representatives (3,829).

The IOC released a gender breakdown for the first category, which includes print reporters and photographers. Of the 1,952 media members in Beijing, just 23 percent 443 individuals were women. Within that group, women photographers were the least represented, percentage-wise: Of the 603 photographers accredited at the Games, only 13 percent 80 individuals were women.

CATEGORY

FEMALE

MALE

TOTAL

FEMALE %

MALE %

E (Journalist)

290

801

1,091

27%

73%

EP (Photographer)

80

523

603

13%

87%

ET (Technician)

16

81

97

16%

84%

EC (MPC support staff)

6

13

19

32%

68%

ENR (Non-rights-holding broadcaster)

51

91

142

36%

64%

TOTAL

443

1,509

1,952

23%

77%

I think its jarring to see the numbers in print because my impression, honestly, when I was there is that the numbers were improving, said Getty Images photographer Maddie Meyer, whose resume includes four Olympic Games, 10 FIFA World Cups (women and men) and the Super Bowl.

Story continues

Meyer, a 2014 Ohio University grad and Boston resident, was stationed in Z-Zone in Beijing, formally known as the Zhangjiakou Zone, which hosted Nordic skiing events, as well as the bulk of freestyle skiing and snowboarding events. She was one of 11 Getty photographers in the zone, three of whom were women. Overall, Getty Images had 61 representatives in Beijing staff included photographers, editors, editorial operations, product and technology staff with 13 being women (21 percent).

[While] its not 50/50, I thought, Oh this is great, Ive got two girlfriends up here with me. This is awesome. But I did notice when, for example, I covered Shaun Whites last run and hanging out in the scrum near the mixed zone, looking around and I do notice, of course, women are still a minority there.

Shaun Whites reaction following his fourth-place finish in the mens snowboard halfpipe competition is among Getty Images photographer Maddie Meyers favorites from Beijing. (Photo by Maddie Meyers/Getty Images)

At major sporting events in the U.S., Meyer said she can easily see female photographers are still the minority, yet she remembers a different picture while in college, where she says women made up the majority of her fellow visual communications students. While that makes her hopeful that growing gender equality in her profession is not a supply-chain issue, Meyer says it remains a challenge to get women photographers game-ready for pressure-packed sports competitions.

How do we make sure theyre coming up and getting opportunities at the highest level, said Meyer. Because thats another thing: Were covering the Olympic Games. Thats the pinnacle of sport photography, and this is not the time to give somebody a first chance or first try when its a really high-pressure situation.

So how do you get new photographers, men or women, into a position where theyre covering these really high-demand, high-pressure sports?

While Getty has addressed that question with targeted internship programs and mentorships, part of the answer lies in Meyer herself. As the first woman to earn the Getty Images Sports Internship in 2013, her living, breathing, trailblazing path inspired fellow colleague and OU alum Sarah Stier, who is here to confirm: Representation matters.

When I saw that Maddie that her full-time job was being a sports photographer thats what I wanted to do, and so I had Maddie to look up to, said Stier, who worked the 2022 Winter Games as an Alpine photo editor as well as a photographer in the Beijing Zone, which primarily hosted the Olympic ice sports. They always say it, but it helps when you have people to look up to, and I think thats the key and thats how were going to (bring more women into the profession).

Photographers Maddie Meyer and Sarah Stier in the field at the Beijing Olympics. (Photo courtesy Getty Images)

Stier also worked the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, where the media accreditation numbers provided by the IOC reflected a similar breakdown percentage-wise by gender. The press corps totaled 4,187 (down by approximately 1,800 from normal Summer Games numbers), with 20 percent of the total credentials going to women, and just 12 percent of the 1,042 photographer credentials were held by women.

When it comes to documenting the action, Meyer and Stier bring a similar approach to their craft, intent on capturing the action as they see it, no matter the subject. But both women also have embraced their position among the minority, seeing it as an opportunity to elevate their points of view as well as to champion the same dynamic coverage of female athletes and womens sports.

While there are disadvantages to being a woman in this male-dominated field, I will say that I do think when I am covering female athletes, I think they do feel more comfort around me and so maybe in that moment thats my advantage, said Stier.

In particular, Stier said she seized those advantages last year while covering the Professional Womens Hockey Players Associations history-making game hosted at Madison Square Garden, as part of the 2021 Dream Gap Tour.

As I was shooting, I was trying to challenge myself to think beyond the the photos and storylines that we always see in womens sports, she said, referring to the stereotypical images of ponytails and painted fingernails.

What can I shoot beyond that? Because when we photograph mens reactions after they score a goal or something, theyre these almost guttural screams, you know? Its intense and I want to make sure that when I photograph female athletes, Im photographing them in the exact same way that I photograph male athletes.

Thats going to be hard for some people to adjust to because women athletes dont always look pretty when theyre scoring.

Meyer noted that she, too, considers it her responsibility to provide the same gritty coverage for womens sports as she does for men.

I need to be sure that Im showing the women in their peak action and getting dirty and sliding on the turf and things like that, so that ultimately its a little bit out of my hands but I make such an effort to be able to provide these tough, peak-action moments.

But Meyer has found a little magic in differences between on-field celebrations at womens events vs. mens: Often (women) give great reaction to each other. A lot of men will celebrate to the cameras or by themselves, and women tend to come together and celebrate with their teams, so there are more pictures there, and often I find that more interesting.

But at the end of day, its respect for their subjects that rules the work.

I always try and put myself in the (place) of whatever athlete Im photographing, man or woman, and I know something thats true for all of them is theyve worked really hard to get to this point, said Meyer.

They have dedicated likely their entire lives to getting here, and I want the athlete to be shown in a good light, in a respectful light, and to honor the work that theyve done to get to that moment.

Last year, the IOC released an extensive Gender Equality and Inclusion Report as well as detailed Portrayal Guidelines, both of which encourage gender equality among content creators, storytellers and news organizations. These recommendations even go so far as to encourage sports organizations to offer incentives like additional accreditations to media outlets to assign female staff to cover their athletes or events.

In an email to On Her Turf, IOC Media Relations also confirmed that the IOC Press Committee has a working group on gender equality that is looking at various initiatives including, amongst others, allocating a small quota of press accreditation to females in some parts of the world, plus ensuring equal gender representation and geographic representation in the Young Reporter Programme.

Images from the Olympic Games are seen by billions of people around the world, creating icons and role models for women and girls proving that if she believes it, she can be it,' wrote the IOC in a report in Tuesday detailing its gender parity initiatives in celebration of International Womens Day.

Stier recognizes that a shift toward 50-50 representation behind the camera wont change overnight, but she finds the prospect motivating.

I think thats the challenge and the motivator for getting women to work in sports, she said. What we can do now is to recognize young women who want to be sports photographers early and give them the courage and confidence to really own whatever market theyre in, (and also) give them that courage and confidence by valuing their work over that idea of, Were going to value you because youre a woman.

Thats where we get the change.

Meyer said she sees a time in the future where she arrives at an Olympic Games and can gather with a veteran group of women photographers and share the same camaraderie that she sees her male counterparts enjoying.

Im working generally around a lot of men who have had this group and have known each other for decades, said Meyer. And I know thatll be me one day, with all the women Ive (worked alongside).

Hopefully, Ill know them for decades, and Ill be 50 or 60 years old hanging out with them wherever the Olympics are.

Poulin (who else?) scores OT winner in USA-Canada rematch Oksana Masters becomes most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian ever In sled hockey, coed in name only, women are building their own Paralympic...

Women starred at 2022 Winter Olympics, but men photographed most of the action originally appeared on NBCSports.com

View post:

Women starred at 2022 Winter Olympics, but men photographed most of the action - Yahoo Sports