UConn’s Geno Auriemma Shuts Down Sexist Question

I grew up an athlete. I was playing basketball and soccer from the time I was a little girl in kindergarten. Athletes like Mia Hamm, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were idols of mine. They were so good at their game and made the boys look bad, which is what I set out to do every day on the playground or on the court.

The 2016 Summer Olympics has brought forward a new batch of idols for young female athletes. Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, and Alex Morgan dominate in all of their events and yet there are female Olympic athletes being criticized because they are just that. Women.

Geno Auriemma, who we all know as the most dominate coach in Women's College Basketball leading the charge at UCONN, is also coaching Team USA in Rio. Coach Auriemma has been fielding the same sexist question over and over, and it seems as though he's had enough.

According to USA Today's For The Win, a reporter asked Auriemma how he felt about constantly being asked if it was bad for the Women's Basketball team to be so dominate, while the Men's team has been dominating too, but no one is asking any questions.

Auriemma replied suavely to For The Win:

We live in that Trumpian era where it’s okay to be sexist and degrade people that are good, just because they’re the opposite sex. We are what we are. We’re never going to apologize for being that good. We’re never going to apologize for setting a standard that other people aspire to achieve.

It boggles my mind that being great at a sport can be considered a bad thing. Imagine if someone asked Michael Phelps if he thought having 22 gold metals was bad for the sport?

If you want to catch the amazing ladies of Team USA, they'll be taking on Canada tonight at 6:30pm.