British Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith's Question: Why Aren't Female Athletes In The Spotlight Like Messi Or Tiger Woods?

Dina Asher-Smith (Sumber: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Britain's fastest-growing female sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith has criticized sports marketers for the way they differentiate gender between male and female athletes. The marketer Asher-Smith calls too much of the impression that women focus on aesthetics rather than sporting achievement.

The 25-year-old, three-time European gold medalist and British record holder for the women's 100 and 200 meter sprints, said that while marketing campaigns involving female athletes have increased in recent years, efforts need to be further boosted.

"For men, if you win, you are the MVP. You get trophies, flowers," Asher-Smith wrote in the Players' Tribune as quoted by Reuters on Thursday, March 11.

"If you were marketing a new pair of football boots, they would use someone like Lionel Messi ... Not someone who is just playing recreatively just because he fits that image better."

"However, often it happens to girls. Because they fit the aesthetic image? What kind of message does an eight-year-old girl, to girls who aspire to be athletes?"

According to a 2018 Nielsen study, women's sports attracted only 1 percent of the sponsorship market, 3 percent of print coverage, and 4 percent of online coverage, while less than 20 percent of all sports TV covered girls only.

Asher-Smith questions why the achievements of female athletes such as Marta, Katie Ledecky and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are not in the same spotlight as Messi, Tiger Woods and other successful sportsmen.

"If you are a GOAT (greatest of all time), world record holder, gold medalist ... you deserve everything. At least for the boys," he added. "But there are many instances where this doesn't apply to princesses."

"We can see double standards, but an eight year old girl can't see it. She thinks that even if you are the best in your sport, it is still more valuable to the industry narrative if it fits the aesthetics."