Ann Pyne is the Australian Olympic Committee member who was slammed for her comments regarding the height of women. She made these statements during an interview on the TODAY Show, when asked about a possible run for the Olympic gold medal. She said “I am not going to fiddle about it, I am not going to make them grow. I don’t think it’s a problem for the athletes, I really don’t. I think if they’d grown a little bit they would do much better in their games.”
The unfortunate thing is that Ms. Pyne went on to say that being an athlete at a relatively young age is unacceptable in terms of her professional career. She is wrong in that claim and not one of the leading figures in the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) should be denigrating a young female athlete by saying she’s too short to make it in the game. It’s a slap in the face to any female in sports, let alone an Olympic gold medal winner who has dedicated her entire life to her sport. Height isn’t an issue in MMA fights and anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m tall and can fight. Ann is saying that a woman should not aspire to be anything less than a world-class athlete in order to achieve anything in her profession.
Height or not shouldn’t matter in a profession like the MMA. If a woman wants to be successful in this sport, she must train with an incredible fitness program in addition to her MMA fighting. Being short doesn’t guarantee success in this profession and there are many great fighters out there who are 5’10 and under. A question Ann Pyne may have to be if a woman could go out there and knock someone out cold in MMA fights, would she be considered a male fighter.