As an aside.....

....I don't think that whether or not women can beat men is the right question to answer, really.

Women's sport can be really exciting whether or not they're as strong as men. For example in the other sport I love the most - Marianne Vos is perhaps the most dominant and exciting cyclist in the world right now. And women's racing can actually be more exciting than men's to watch - more attacks, more risks taken.

Nonetheless, it's *way* less popular in terms of audiences. Partly is abut education I think - people just haven't discovered it, so it's not on tv, so people don't know the riders, so they don't want to watch it. Vicious circle.

There is also the element that men spend more on sporting equipment, so they're the people sponsors really want to reach. So they throw more cash at men's competition. Suspect that's the case in other sports too.

Not easy to know the right answer. In the end think I agree with King that having equal prize money sends a positive signal. But it is a bit artificial in some ways, at least at the moment.

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Jul 8, 13:26:09