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A32 LOCAL
Diamars 20 Juli 2021

Female surfers overcome sexism’s toll to earn Olympic berth

(AP) — Johanne Defay trolling female bodies,” said was clearly a preference for industry also began offer-
of France was devastated Walker, also a BYU-Hawaii the men’s game. ing equal prize money for all
when the mega sponsor history professor. its events, making it one of
Roxy dropped her right Surfing schedules are deter- the few professional sports
before she became a pro Even for Moore, the child mined in the morning based leagues to achieve pay equity.
surfer in 2014, shatter- prodigy who could beat the on what the ocean waves are
ing her confidence and boys before growing up to like, and it was no secret that “It was an important state-
threatening her career al- be — at 18 years old — the the boys’ and men’s competi- ment to make around the
together. youngest World Surf League tions would be given the best value of our athletes. More
champion in history, said surf conditions, usually in than anything, it speaks to
“They were just like ’Oh, she’s also struggled with her the morning. Female surfers the emphasis on women’s
you don’t look this way, you body image. Moore is 28 now took the scraps, if they were surfing. We believe men and
know, for, like, pictures,” De- and has spoken openly about invited at all. women are valued the same,”
fay said. “And I just felt like starving herself as a teenager, Miley-Dyer said. “It’s the
I was never doing enough or female surfers back in the only to binge eat later, and ADVERTISEMENT right thing to do.”
I wasn’t fitting in, in the way male-dominated sport. once even trying to force her-
that they wanted for their The mental, financial and lo- self to throw up. “There’d be the event direc- The announcement was
brand.” gistical roadblocks for wom- tors and they would kind of emotional for many, includ-
en in surfing date back cen- “Everyone had this idea of schedule things the way they ing Miley-Dyer. Back in 2006
Now, Defay is headed to the turies. what a surfer girl should look wanted to schedule and there when she won a pro event,
Tokyo Olympics for surfing’s Hawaiians who invented the like. And there were a lot of would be bias from the out- she earned just $10,000 — a
debut at the Summer Games, sport treated it as an egali- ‘hot lists’ or the ‘cutest surf- dated patriarchy. It’s changed third of what the top male
buoyed by an upset win tarian national pastime that er girl list,’” Moore said. “I immensely,” Cruse said. “It surfer took home.
against reigning world cham- all genders, ages and social never made them, but then took a while for the women
pion Carissa Moore at the classes enjoyed, according to you see who actually made to complain about it.” “I cried because it means so
high-intensity Surf Ranch Isaiah Helekunihi Walker, a them and you feel like: ‘Oh, much,” Miley-Dyer said. “I
competition last month. Hawaii surfing historian. But I guess, like, that’s what I A turning point came in had also retired, so it wasn’t
Christian missionaries who should look like.’” 2013, when new ownership something for me, but it
Though there’s much excite- arrived on the island tried took over the professional felt something to me and so
ment and renewed enthusi- to ban surfing in large part Modern day professional league and the rebranded many people like me.”
asm for the women’s game, because of nudity — surfing surfing in a previous itera- WSL began to prioritize stan-
years of objectification, pay naked was common at the tion had a decentralized ap- dardizing the competitions Next year will be the first
disparities and an oppor- sports’ inception. Though proach that left brand spon- and rebuilding the women’s time the WSL will include its
tunity gap have taken their locals largely defied the col- sors in charge of many of the events, said Jessi Miley-Dyer, women surfers at the famous
toll. Industry leaders from onizers, female surfers saw competition logistics, which a retired pro surfer who now Pipe Masters competition,
the professional World Surf their ranks shrink dispropor- would vary widely from one runs the WSL’s competition allowing them the chance to
League and the developmen- tionately. event to another, said Greg as senior vice president. ride the Banzai Pipeline in
tal USA Surfing say they’re Cruse, USA Surfing CEO. Oahu, Hawaii, considered by
committed to righting the “When it comes to control- And though it wasn’t an of- In 2019, the WSL as the lead- many the best waves in the
wrongs that have long held ling nudity, it’s about con- ficial rule or standard, there ers of the $10 billion surfing world.

Road success helps Brewers take commanding NL Central lead

(AP) — The Milwaukee than at home, where they’re ing the rotation — Brandon ting closer to a return. Jackie
Brewers are returning 27-21. Woodruff, Corbin Burnes Bradley Jr. is hitting .173.
home with the biggest di- and Freddy Peralta — have Kolten Wong has gone on
vision lead of any National “There’s not an explana- helped the Brewers top the the injured list three times.
League team, but it’s their tion for that,” manager Craig majors in strikeouts (968) Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP,
success away from Mil- Counsell said. “You just play a and rank third in ERA (3.40). isn’t hitting for much power
waukee that has helped good baseball game and that’s Opponents are hitting .212 — his slugging percentage is
them build a seven-game what happens. We get into against Milwaukee. .398.
cushion. that all the time — day-game
records, road records. It’s just All-Star closer Josh Hader Yelich showed signs of prog-
Milwaukee’s weekend sweep playing good baseball.” struggled in the week leading ress by hitting a go-ahead kee, where the Bucks are
at NL Central rival Cincin- up to the All-Star break but RBI double in the 11th in- bidding for their first NBA
nati improved the Brewers’ The Brewers have been play- has otherwise been excep- ning Saturday and homering title since 1971. The Bucks’
road record to 29-18, the best ing great baseball for the last tional. All-Star catcher Omar Sunday. run also has caught the at-
in the majors. The Brewers two months as they’ve with- Narváez has batted .293 with tention of the Brewers, who
begin a five-game homestand stood a multitude of injuries. a .387 on-base percentage, up Although the Brewers have moved Tuesday’s game to an
Tuesday against the Kansas Their 35-16 record since dramatically from his .176 av- reached the postseason each afternoon start so it wouldn’t
City Royals. May 22 is the best in baseball erage and .294 OBP in 2020. of the last three years, this big conflict with Game 6 of the
during that stretch. Avisaíl García’s 17 homers lead puts them in an unfamil- NBA Finals.
Outfielder Christian Yelich are three off his career high. iar position.
credits the Brewers’ road May 22 was the day short- Luis Urías, who didn’t hom- “We’re all excited,” said
success to their togetherness. stop Willy Adames made er at all last season, has gone Last year, they capitalized Counsell, who attended the
his Brewers debut, and his deep 13 times this year. Role on MLB’s expanded playoff Bucks’ Game 4 victory. “We
“Everybody really likes each acquisition from Tampa players such as Jace Peterson format to reach the post- really are. I mean, the club-
other, picks each other up,” Bay has played a big role in and Tyrone Taylor have pro- season without ever being house is excited for them, I
Yelich said. “Just the tough- Milwaukee’s emergence. vided a boost. above .500. They reached the know that. We’ve been talk-
ness. Everybody just wants to Adames who was hitting .197 playoffs in 2018 and 2019 by ing about it a lot and we’re
win, and we’re willing to do with the Rays, has batted .314 That has enabled the Brewers making huge stretch runs. thrilled and happy for the city
whatever it takes to get that with a .398 on-base percent- to thrive even without get- and happy for all the fans. It’s
done.” age, 11 homers and 37 RBIs ting the expected contribu- “It’s a bad week away from a really, really cool thing.”
in 51 games with Milwaukee. tions from notable position being a really tight race,”
For whatever reason, those players. Yelich said. “It’s far, far, far The Brewers would love to
traits have stood out more But there are plenty of other from over.” keep the excitement going
when they’re away from Mil- reasons why Milwaukee leads Lorenzo Cain hasn’t played around Milwaukee well into
waukee. The Brewers have the NL Central. since May 31 due to a ham- The surging Brewers aren’t October
been even better on the road The trio of All-Stars head- string injury, though he’s get- the biggest story in Milwau-