Rome, July 22, 2021 – Ten centimeters of bikini. It is the regulatory width of the costume that must cover the buttocks for the girls to play beach handball competitions, a sport that we invented in 1990 to attempt the success that beach volleyball had already achieved on the California beaches. But while the latter has been an Olympic game since 1996, beach handball has not yet obtained a five-circle license, while the indoor twin has been there since Berlin 1936. And despite the fact that the game was born in Italy and the women’s national team was European champion and winner …
Rome, July 22, 2021 – Ten centimeters of bikini. And the regulatory width of the costume that must cover the buttocks so that the girls can play beach handball competitions, a sport that we invented in 1990 to attempt the success that beach volleyball had already achieved on the California beaches. But while the latter has been an Olympic game since 1996, beach handball has not yet obtained a five-circle license, while the indoor twin has been there since Berlin 1936. And despite the fact that the game was born in Italy and the women’s national team was champion of Europe and winner of the World Games in 2009, very few know the beach handball and even less the rules on the “sexist” measure of costume that are sending the movement into a tailspin afterwards protest that Norway put in place during the European championships in Varna, the Bulgarian pearl on the Black Sea. To compete for third place in the championship against Spain, the Scandinavians covered the lower part of their bikini with a tight shorts, with all due respect to the male audience who could only imagine the shapes of the athletes.
The Norwegians lost the game, but above all they suffered for their anti-voyeuristic behavior a fine of 150 euros each. The Federation sided with the athletes and paid the total sum stigmatizing in a tweet the decision of the European sports authorities: “We are very proud of these girls, who raised their voices during the European Championships and announced that they had enough of this rule. We at NHF support and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the rules of clothing, so that players can play with the clothes they prefer. “
On the same tone, a personal post by the president of the Norwegian Handball Federation, Kare Geir Lio, to which the spokesman of the European Federation, Andrew Barringer, replied: “The EHF is committed to pursuing this topic in the interest of the various nations, however a change in the rules can only take place at the international level “.
Whether Norway’s protest has a sequel will soon be known, because a summit between Federations was summoned shortly. Norwegian players have no doubts: the bikini requirement is “sexist and embarrassing,” said captain Katinka Haltvik.
The game, the athletes explain, is fast and requires twisting and moving movements that at any moment can reveal even those few centimeters of the body covered.
“The shorts – they declared – they are more comfortable and they do not give an advantage on the results. “And since it is a sport and not a fashion show … Does the clash between the sexes basically underline that the woman who plays sport must also be aesthetically interesting?
The athletes want this to be overcome and find it discriminatory that their colleagues can play in anything but sexy tank tops and shorts that float up to four inches from the knee in beach handball. After all, it is a question of measures.
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