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KZ0 DWKrgr# 2HOjtWk`*dѢA{g Y!!:k<}n ?.~zh3$>NLes*Æ7(b,3<9m,ĎN+y4-a6еIqv1cռW_F+ 87inu!y 4h$WF\ȭ>LPa<67Szotpu*~l3Xgѵ -SQ2" 3cmt+Ql˕N8 -64]fyב `H;{{cJ'ޙzDHǙ+mj|[N>ۊ Z82$q IרGé ۞b^.|D,InH|^ܨEQ⳩8T慢j]~o*1qɠ-+5uk4lM vgtfH9ui$_lLdiKa-34=(Ƚ@>h&RM6E˟o|QUZmH\Pz( Ls/e vp@%ArԦKW+\>X"(GЊz"69-^aSt@cIah RBgjɷ#ԜLg,ڸCu_ &<]pބFd B(K@Ȯd~9!UGғrFz4ܵ)'ܽ@|Ck9Mݵ~HgyȗƑI#޽ꦯ&:v _U:SŞInu+xg<JMD+~Gٯ%'m UV0ZN\LѤSrXr0#>Ց*OsaU`FhGj2_4UBݏ†OXI7ɞoQqjCdWƏ:P$zn<ɚk3Gh8f8 3wF_3&,c9'ҦEUo5g>ܜ$WB9ıuYz֓?Z,݋! 0=,y?Z(b1ֺ 'ša&@y iMoW{0W#˃PфIh\li֧w_1jϊA~q62!lXA*[v2u%I ieyv'*.MdzEirls at last have as many role models as boys have. Sports that were once seen as essentially men's territory - lacrosse, wrestling, rugby and ice hockey - are increasingly attracting women participants. After a World Cup championship and a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics (and a silver in 2000), U.S. women's soccer is now rocking the athletic world with professional teams and generating incredible excitement among spectators and future players.<br><br>The Way It Was<br><br>For women, the Olympic dream has been a long time coming. When the first Games were held in ancient Greece, only men could compete. Although the very concept of democracy - government by the people - was born in Greece, the privilege didn't extend to women. Universal inclusion was an idea whose time was yet to come (and still is, judging from the ongoing battles between differing ideologies around the globe). Women were relegated to the role of spectators in the original Olympic events and in most events of any consequence, and that was the way things stood until the second quarter of the twentieth century.<br>By then, suffragettes had won voting rights for women in many western countries, and the world hadn't come to an end. Apparently, in 1928 the time was right to give a nod to women athletes. So in Amsterdam, a city considered liberal by most standards, the stage was set for the first women Olympians in gymnastics and track and field. The longest event for women was the 800-meter race, won by Lina Radke of Germany. As the athletes crossed the finish line, several of the competitors collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, a result not uncommon among male competitors too.<br>In response to this, the Olympic officials, who were aghast at subjecting "the weaker sex" to such an ordeal, immediately withdrew the 800-meter as an event and the event wasn't reinstated for 32 years. The 100-meter remained the only track event for women other than the hurdles until 1948, when the 200-meter was added. By 1960 there was no way to deny that women were tough enough to compete in longer events, and the women's 800 meter was reinstated, with the 1,500 meter following in 1972, smack on the heels of the enactment of Title IX.<br><br>Title IX's<br>Slow-Growing Tsunami<br><br>As for myself, I was already in my second year of college when Title IX passed. I grew up with three brothers, so I was lucky that sports and an active, physical lifestyle were always a part of my life. For most of my classmates, sports weren't "cool." Some of these women today wage their own wars with obesity, underachievement and low self-esteem - all factors that an active lifestyle and participation in sports can ease or eliminate.<br>Considering that in 1972, schools had virtually no organized female sport programs, Title IX would take many years to put into effect. As late as the 1970s, girls' sports not only were neglected, they were often actively discouraged. In the government publication "Title IX: 25 Years of Progress," it was cited that "In 1971 a Connecticut judge was allowed by law to disallow girls from competing on a boys' high school cross country team even though there was no girls' team at the school. And that same year, fewer than 300,000 high school girls played interscholastic sports. Today [1997], that number is 2.4 million."<br>Legislative efforts to sabotage the original intent of the amendment were waged almost yearly until 1980, when the Department of Education was established and given the responsibility to oversee the implementation of Title IX through the Office for Civil Rights. From that point, Title IX began to work its magic, slowly though, as most social reforms do. Understanding Title IX's impact requires us to look not just at the burgeoning statistics in female sport participation but also at the m