Kate Shortman & Izzy Thorpe, Dame Katherine Grainger, Nicola Adams, Anna Kessel, Frankie Miren, Laura Middleton-Hughes.
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2021
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics starts today and Team GB are taking more women athletes than men for the first time in 125 years. Of the 376 athletes selected, 201 are female. So could this be the best ever Games for women? We talk to Dame Katherine Grainger, Britain's joint most decorated female Olympian and Chair of UK Sport; double Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams and Anna Kessel, Women's Sport Editor at The Telegraph.
Staying with the games, we’ll hear from artistic swimmers Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe who are representing Great Britain at Tokyo 2020. The pair have spoken out about receiving trolling and bullying for their professional synchronised swimmer physiques, describing themselves as having "big shoulders, small boobs and small bums".
We talk to the writer and activist Frankie Miren’s about her novel "The Service" in which she draws on her personal experience to look at the vulnerabilities and dangers of life as a sex worker.
One listener has contacted us about a new support group they've set up based on her own experiences of abuse within a religious organisation. She tells us about “Escape-escapee” which she says will help people who want to leave what she calls "high control groups". She was abused by a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and her case went to the High Court six years ago.
Another listener Laura Middleton-Hughes got in touch about her nipple tattoos. She tells Anita why she chose to have 3D areoles tattooed on her breasts after reconstructive surgery,
Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Engineer: John Boland
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's |
| 0:08.0 | Hour from BBC Radio 4. Good morning, we made it to another Friday. |
| 0:13.6 | It begins today, after being cancelled due to COVID and the various high-up people being |
| 0:18.3 | sacked due to controversial comments, it's finally happening. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics |
| 0:23.8 | begins today. Are you excited for a summer of sports? Who have you got your eye on? |
| 0:28.9 | Well, it's a big first for Team GB this year. We are taking more female athletes than |
| 0:34.7 | ever before. Of the 376 strong team, 201 are women. In Paris, 1900, Team GB took one woman. |
| 0:46.6 | We have come a long way since then, and it's a moment to celebrate. I'm delighted to say |
| 0:50.8 | Nicola Adams and Dame Catherine Granger will be here to talk to us about it, and I cannot |
| 0:55.1 | wait for the opening ceremony. Who doesn't have a big show in a massive firework display? |
| 0:59.5 | So we're getting excited about the Olympics and we are celebrating women in sport this |
| 1:03.8 | morning, and I'd love to hear about the female sporting moments that stand out in your |
| 1:09.0 | memories or mean something to you. They can be famous or your own personal achievements. |
| 1:14.3 | I know we have a lot of talent listening. Textors 84844, the text will be charged at your |
| 1:19.3 | standard message rate. You can contact us via social media, it's at BBC Woman's Hour, |
| 1:23.8 | if you fancy writing as an email, go to our website. We also hear from a woman who was |
| 1:28.9 | abused within her religious organisation this morning, and has since set up a website |
| 1:32.9 | to help people who might need support in what she calls high control groups. We'll be |
| 1:37.8 | talking to sex worker activist and journalist Frankie Marin about her debut novel and Nippel |
| 1:44.0 | tattoos. Well, it is Woman's Hour. But first, at noon today, UK time, the opening ceremony |
| 1:51.0 | of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will begin a year later than planned thanks to COVID. Team |
| 1:56.2 | GB are taking more women athletes than men for the first time in 125 years, as I said, |
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