Men, women… and ladies
I was checking out the various Olympic events on the official 2018 Winter Olympics website and happened to notice that, whereas males are always referred to as ‘men’, it’s not quite so simple when it comes to the females.
Of the 15 sports which make up the 2018 Winter Olympics, 5 refer to females as ‘ladies’ & 9 refer to them as ‘women’ (1 sport, Nordic combined, will first accept any female participation at the 2022 Winter Olympics).
Here’s the whole list:
| sport | women/ladies |
|---|---|
| Alpine skiing | ladies |
| Biathlon | women |
| Bobsleigh | women |
| Cross-country skiing | women |
| Curling | women |
| Figure skating | ladies |
| Freestyle skiing | women |
| Ice hockey | women |
| Luge | women |
| Nordic combined | n/a |
| Short track speed skating | women |
| Skeleton | women |
| Ski jumping | ladies |
| Snowboarding | ladies |
| Speed skating | ladies |
Why is this? Well… I haven’t the foggiest idea! Why would a female be a lady when she skates on a 400m track (speed skating), but ‘only’ a woman when she does the 111.111m track (short track speed skating)?
Gentlemen?
In case you wonder why males are always referred to as ‘men’ and never as ‘gentlemen’ (the male version of ‘ladies’): Well… we may have Sjinkie to ‘thank’ for that! 😉