Opinion: Olympic Gold To Celebrate The 40th Anniversary Of Title IX
Our women have had an amazing Olympic run this year. For the first time there are more women than men on the United States Olympic team.
The women are hauling in the medals –a lot of them gold. They have won one third more medals than the men and twice as many gold medals.
In 2012, the U.S. Olympic women rule.
On Thursday, the women's soccer team prevailed in an exciting match over Japan. They won the gold on one of the world’s largest stages for soccer, Wembley Stadium, in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 people.
From gymnastics to water polo to beach volleyball, our athletes impressed the world and took home medals. In the pool, on the track and on the tennis court women are taking home medals.
The U.S. women's volleyball and basketball teams are in the gold medal game.
It has been an amazing summer games.
Raising the game of our women on the Olympic stage is a significant accomplishment that has happened over decades.
As winter Olympic organizer Mitt Romney told Olympians in 2002: they did not do this on their own.
In addition to having parents that sacrificed along with their aspiring children, women have something else that helped lay the foundation for this success.
Title IX has increased opportunities for women to compete in sports across the country. It has had an impact across generations and more and more girls are inspired by the women they see achieve their dreams on the Olympic stage.
As we celebrate these women's victories we must remember that Title IX created the opportunities for women to succeed in sports.
When progressives push for public policy changes, that is what we seek: not guaranteed outcomes but guaranteed access. No one guarantees our Olympians a medal and no one guarantees anyone who wants to represent our country in the Olympics a spot on the team.
It is up to the individual to make all they can out of the opportunity. But without the opportunity they do not have a chance to succeed.
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Title IX. The 2012 Olympic Women have put on an amazing tribute this summer. They have done remarkable things with the access to compete in the sports they love.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
