All of Canada’s medals have been won by women

[Byron Bitz]

It seems every Olympics the Canadian women greatly outperform the men. Any theories why?

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[ViD]

Because Canadian men don’t play anything other than hockey

 

[Byron Bitz]

My best guess is it is because Canada invests more resources into women’s athletics than many of these misogynistic countries where women are discouraged from pursuing sports.

 

[Habsfunk]

Globally, the level of competition in women's sports isn't as high, so countries that invest more in women's sports, which are generally wealthier countries with greater women's equality, tend to do win more medals.

 

[discostu]

I'm not sure if we can boil it down to the gender imbalance in other countries. Our biggest haul has been in swimming, and it's countries like US, Australia and the UK that does well in both sides and each of them have maintain strong investments in both genders.

I don't really have any great alternative theory though. Either way, it is great to see the success by our female athletes, and I hope we see some breakthrough on the men's side soon.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I'm not sure if we can boil it down to the gender imbalance in other countries. Our biggest haul has been in swimming, and it's countries like US, Australia and the UK that does well in both sides and each of them have maintain strong investments in both genders.

I don't really have any great alternative theory though. Either way, it is great to see the success by our female athletes, and I hope we see some breakthrough on the men's side soon.

I think it is just as simple as we have a unbelievable group of women in the pool for this generation.

 

[JackSlater]

Globally, the level of competition in women's sports isn't as high, so countries that invest more in women's sports, which are generally wealthier countries with greater women's equality, tend to do win more medals.

That's pretty much it. The Canadian women have been doing very well, nice to see and I hope that they continue to do so.

 

[McOilers97]

Men playing hockey in Canada is a partial explanation.

I’ll use swimming for this example:

Otherwise, I’d say look at the peak ages of athletes in each gender. Women can be elite as teenagers and early 20s, while men (other than the truly transcendent talents) usually take until mid-20s. That means they have to hang around longer in the sport, despite there not being much in the way of financing to help cover their costs (top male swimmers in the country only get about $20,000 per year of funding from Swimming Canada - they can earn a bit more in other ways, but not all that great still). Other than the top 5-10 guys, we don’t see many Canadian men hanging around in the sport beyond ages 21-23 when they finish University. I’d venture to say that we don’t ever see how good many of our most talented athletes can be, because it’s hard to justify keeping training for an amount of money that barely puts a dent in the cost of living and training.

I imagine this is a reality in a lot of sports, not just swimming.

 

[DueDiligence]

It seems every Olympics the Canadian women greatly outperform the men. Any theories why?

Pro sports. The best male athletes generally gravitate to the glamour sports of hockey, basketball, soccer, football where there can be a huge financial and social payoff. Gymnastics and fencing not so much. The lack of pro sports for women have them participating in a variety of sports. And successful participants well get endorsements and recognition regardless of their sport.

 

[Beech]

It has been this way for a while. Canadian women rock...

But there is also a deeper explanation. Sadly women sports in much of the third world hardly exists. It leaves first world nations as the primary women's sport hub. Canada is happily located north of the USA and its 500 universities who give sports scholarships.

So thousands of Canadian women have access to elite training grounds and elite competition. Much of the first world does not use that model. University scholarships for sports is an American phenomena and not prevalent elsewhere.

So Canada benefits.

Canadian men, while still having similar access to US schools, have to compete against the world as a whole. And many 3rd world nations use government programs for sports and sadly that tends to be male dominated.

Canadian women rock and benefit form crazy circumstance.

 

[Rob]

As a Canadian man this is so emasculating. How will I ever make love to my wife again?

 

[Daisy Jane]

It's also - a good chunk of the events that the men are stronger in are Week 2. Usually it ends up being split.

 

[Canuckle1970]

WOOOOOOOO !!!!!! Canada win women's 8 rowing! GOLD MEDAL !!!

 

[Uncle Rotter]

It's also - a good chunk of the events that the men are stronger in are Week 2. Usually it ends up being split.

Like athletics

 

[Scandale du Jour]

As a Canadian man this is so emasculating. How will I ever make love to my wife again?

She will now be making love to you.

 

[Maestro84]

Globally, the level of competition in women's sports isn't as high, so countries that invest more in women's sports, which are generally wealthier countries with greater women's equality, tend to do win more medals.

Well China and Russia are not developed countries nor do they rank very high on women’s rights lists yet their female athletes still dominate

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I am curious. Which country are males currently dominating in medal count?

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Until now.

 

[Beech]

Well China and Russia are not developed countries nor do they rank very high on women’s rights lists yet their female athletes still dominate

no they don't. The medal count men/women is about even. Those two nations spend inordinate amount of effort at pumping sport up. And are large populations.

The bulk of the 3rd world hardly moves the needle. The bulk of Western European nations hardly move the needle when it comes to women sports.

Only two nations dominate. The USA as of now (Aug 4): 51/23 (women/men). Canada: 13/2 (women/men).

Thank you, Title 9 and thank you, American social injustice (this one will get me into trouble if I explain).

 

[Beech]

I am curious. Which country are males currently dominating in medal count?

Great Britain
Cuba
Italy
Czech Republic

and many 3rd world and European nations that generally don't move the needle when it comes to women sports.

Title 9 and US social injustice....less US social injustice, Canada would sink like a stone

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

It seems every Olympics the Canadian women greatly outperform the men. Any theories why?

In general there are fewer top/elite level women in a given sport than men. Obviously there are exceptions like gymnastics

 

[John Price]

Figured this might be relevant.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Well China and Russia are not developed countries nor do they rank very high on women’s rights lists yet their female athletes still dominate

and they are also caught cheating more than any other country

 

[Havre]

Obviously for quite large parts of the world it is much more difficult for women to become top athletes - so competition will be lower. How much does it matter? I would argue Norway is one of the most egalitarian societies in the world in terms of equal opportunities between the sexes and still there are a lot more male top athletes (for the time being) in Norway than female. Obviously Norway is a small country and these things seem to ebb and flow quite a bit, but it is still surprising to me that the Norwegian women aren't doing better.

I don't know the numbers from Sweden and Denmark. I think that is also quite male dominated in terms of golds at least. All the gold medals I have seen from those two countries have been by male athletes.