Scott Radley: Why our women are dominating in Tokyo. Some theories, anyway.

You may have heard that our women are doing OK in Tokyo. Which is the polite, understated, Canadian way of saying they've claimed all 11 of this country's medals so far.

This isn't the first time they've stolen the spotlight, either. Include Rio five years ago and the Summer Olympic tally is now 27 medals for the women and six for the men and that is making many people ask what's going on? Are our women just better or is there some other explanation for this imbalance?

Good question," says two-time Olympian Paula Schnurr, now McMaster's track and cross country coach.

The truth is, there likely isn't a single definitive answer. But theories? Oh yes, there are plenty of those.

Let's start with the competition since this is a popular one that's often cited.

Canada not only encourages young girls to play sports but we spend millions of dollars of both public and private money to prepare our elite female athletes. Because of this support, they get excellent training in world-class facilities, top coaching, quality nutrition, sports psychologists to prepare them and leading-edge sports medicine to aid their recovery. Which is great.

This story is not the same around the world. Many countries see women's sports as unimportant, if really a thing at all. In some places it's actively discouraged. The International Olympic Committee urged countries to have both a male and female flag-bearer for the opening ceremonies this year. Some still had only a man.

In some of those countries that do endorse it, the majority of funding still often goes to men while women train with whatever fiscal scraps are left over.

We are also from a culture that values equality," Canada's chef de mission Marnie McBean told The Canadian Press this week. Increasingly, we're giving ice time and field time and court time more equally. I'll go with more equally. We've got 206 countries here and I would say maybe the majority of them don't feel the same we do."

Is this the reason for our women's success? Maybe, though it's not like there are no other top athletes challenging them. Our women are still beating plenty of competitors from other countries that do receive strong support and excellent funding.

Hey, we already said it's just a theory.

Let's look at another possibility.

A huge number of Canada's best male athletes play the sports that are most visible in our culture and that offer the potential of a lucrative professional future. Hockey, basketball, baseball, football and soccer. Even golf. Funneling many of our greatest natural athletes into these sports reduces the number who are being streamed toward Olympic activities.

Women play those sports too, of course. But as they move up the ladder, those same professional dreams aren't there for them. Not to the same degree, anyway. So, a fair number of our best pure female athletes find their way into sports - or stick with ones - that offer long-term opportunities that you find contested under the Olympic rings.

Would the medal imbalance be smaller (or reversed) if our most naturally gifted male athletes were all jumping into the pool or pursuing some other sports that are being played in Tokyo?

Impossible to say. Again, it's just a theory.

There are others.

Some would say we're having this discussion too early in the Games. The sports our men tend to excel in come later in the schedule. Track, paddling and others are in the second week. So things are always going to look tilted at the beginning when swimming events - filled with many of our top women who can (and do) win multiple medals in multiple events - are happening.

There's also the fact that Team Canada has 225 women but only 146 men in Tokyo. That should mean more medals, even if the math says the gap shouldn't be as wide as it is.

Of course, there's a chance it's less complicated than all that.

Maybe we're simply in a golden age of female athletes, highlighted by an all-time star like Penny Oleksiak. Perhaps the success of women at previous Olympics inspired a younger generation of girls to try a sport. Now that group has reached world-class status together. A gift of role modelling combined with support and some fortuitous timing.

Even if that's the case, this should be sustainable. Because you'd expect the performances of today's stars will likely be inspiring thousands of girls around the country who will now want to take up a sport they're seeing someone do on TV in a red and white uniform. Three or four Olympics from now, we should be seeing a few of them fighting for space on the podium.

Which means we might be talking about this issue for a long time.

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com