Australia’s fight to ‘break the bias’ at the Olympic Games

Today marks International Women’s Day, with people across the globe, from sporting and non sporting backgrounds, called upon to help create a world that is diverse, equitable, inclusive and #BreakTheBias.

While it has now been well documented, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was the first time women’s water polo was included in the Olympic Program. The longest running team sport on the Olympic Program for close to 100 years had only ever seen the men’s game played at the highest level of the sport.

Australia was one of the countries leading the way to fight for women’s inclusion at the Olympic Games, staging protests, lobbying politicians and essentially doing whatever it took to ‘break the bias’ and have women included at the Olympics.

While the IOC has now moved towards gender equality and in fact women for the first time made up more than 53% of the Australian Olympic Team… it is always important to remember the pioneers who paved the way to achieve equality.

Sydney 2000 changed water polo across the globe forever, and in particular in Australia. When the Aussie Stingers claimed the first ever Olympic gold medal for women’s water polo, it inspired a whole new generation of water polo athletes, some who are still representing Australia today.

As Australia looks forward towards the next home Olympic Games at Brisbane 2032, today as we continue to strive for equality and celebrate International Women’s Day, we take a look at some of the Australian stories of women and men who worked tirelessly to ‘break the bias’.