 | Friday, August 06, 2021 | |  | Friday, August 06, 2021 | | |  | Germany's Kim Bui competes in the artistic gymnastics balance beam event of the women's qualification during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images) | As of Aug. 2, all but one of the 14 medals Canada has accumulated at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been won by female athletes. And yet, the Games have once again been steeped in discussions of sexism.
Canada's performance is representative of ambitions by the International Olympic Committee to make the international event more inclusive. Overall, 49 per cent of Tokyo 2020 athletes are women — an all-time high. But according to Michele Donnelly, an assistant professor of sports management at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., numbers alone don't tell the full story.
"There are differences in uniform requirements in some sports, there are actually differences in the rules sets that men and women play by or the distances that they compete over," Donnelly told The Current.
Learn how sexualized uniforms and institutionalized views on motherhood are influencing Olympic athletes on The Current. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | Left: Beverley De Grasse, Olympic 200m gold medal winner Andre De Grasse’s mother, speaks to reporters at her home in Pickering, Ont. Right: Gold medallist Andre De Grasse of Canada celebrates after winning. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press, Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) | Beverley De Grasse couldn't hold back the tears as she spoke about her son's Olympic victory and everything he went through to get there.
Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse bounced back from a serious hamstring injury to win a gold medal in the 200-metre final at the Tokyo Games on Wednesday.
“That was, like, the most amazing moment of my life," his mother Beverley told As It Happens. "I know how hard he's been trained for this. And to hear him say [he had] the weight of the whole world on his shoulders? No one should have to go through that."
The Scarborough, Ont.-born athlete told CBC Sports he was feeling pride in himself after the victory, and a tremendous relief from "all the pressure" and "all the expectations to deliver."
"He wanted to bring back that medal for Canada," Beverley De Grasse said of her son. "And I just pray that that's what he wanted, too, for himself."
Read more from the interview with Beverley De Grasse on As It Happens. | | | | | Want to stay up to speed with what's happening in the Olympics and every sport that matters to Canadians? Subscribe to The Buzzer, a CBC Sports newsletter for casual and hardcore sports fans alike. | | | | | |  | | | Simone Biles of Team United States looks on during Women's Qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Sunday in Tokyo. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | You may not be able to relate to the pressure Simone Biles faces to perform dangerous feats of gymnastics on a world stage, but a high-pressure work environment is familiar to many. Consultant Margot Ross-Graham says workplace leaders can take a lesson from Biles standing up for her mental health.
The Team USA gymnast backed out of several events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, citing a need to focus on her well-being. Biles, who is the world's most-decorated gymnast, was applauded by fellow competitors and fans alike for her openness. The move has also renewed conversations about athletes' mental health.
Ross-Graham, principal and owner of Sandbar Coaching and Consulting in Edmonton, told Cross Country Checkup that Biles's "courageous decision" could make way for more conversations about mental health in the workplace.
"And in the workplace, if I draw a parallel ... we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but also on our peers and our employees, and maybe not give them the tools and the support that they need in order to manage that pressure,” Ross-Graham said. "High-performing people are high-performing people in every aspect of their lives. And sometimes as workplaces, we forget that your highest-performing person might also be the most struggling of them all. Her doing that gave a message to everybody: do what's best for you."
Read more work-life balance advice from Ross-Graham on Cross Country Checkup. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Southern Alberta farmer Richard Owen stands in the same spot of his barley field in July 2020, left, and July 2021. (Kim Owen) | Farmers in Western Canada have been struggling with the extreme heat and lack of rain this summer, with some selling off cattle herds they don't have hay to feed, and others writing off failing crops.
But this drought is so widespread, it's also having impacts outside the agricultural sector, agroclimate specialist Trevor Hadwen told What on Earth.
Hawden said that beyond the wildfires burning and leaving skies smoky, the drought can also lead to infrastructure damage. When soil dries out, it can literally shrink, causing problems for water and gas lines.
Learn how the difficulties in farmers' fields may be passed on to consumers on What on Earth. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Gary Smith, Howard Sheffield and Arthur Lowe were a line for the Mount Forest Redmen during the early 1950s, where they got the nickname the "Black Flashes." Learn more about them in a special broadcast about the legacy of Black hockey players in Canada. (Mount Forest Museum & Archives) | And the Winner Is… celebrates local radio programming from the past broadcast season. Host Gloria Macarenko introduces a round-up of award-winning documentaries and music by Juno Award-winning artists.
Read about some of the programs highlighted in this two-hour special broadcast. | | | | | | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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