Legend Chris Evert Outraged as Norway’s Beach Handball Team Fined for Refusing to Wear Bikini Bottoms

Recently, the European Handball Federation drew sharp criticism when they fined the Norwegian women’s beach handball team for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms in competition. Voicing her support for the beach handball team, the 18-time Grand Slam champion, Chris Evert, called out the sexist attitude of the governing body.

Refusing to wear the required bikini bottoms during a championship game against Spain at the European Beach Handball Championships, the Norwegian women’s beach handball team was fined 1,500 Euros ($1,765)—or 150 Euros ($177) per player.

Chris Evert calls out sexism

Tennis Legend, Chris Evert, took to Twitter to express her anguish over the incident. The American, falling short of words to describe the double standards, asked the Twitterati whether a harsher word for ‘sexist’ existed.

“Is there a word harsher than sexist? Pathetically sexist?” tweeted Evert, condemning the alleged sexism faced by the women’s beach handball team.

Over the last few days, scores of fans have collectively raised support for the Norwegian women’s beach handball team, in the hope to stop women from being subjected to wearing revealing uniforms that feminize and sexualize their appearance.

As per the rulebook put in place by the International Handball Federation, female athletes must wear bikini bottoms, and that these must-have a close fit, be cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg, and have a side depth of no more than 4 inches.

However, the Norwegian women claim they have been complaining to the IHF about the bikini-bottoms issue since 2006. According to them, competing in bikini bottoms while their male counterparts wear shorts is downright sexist.

In full solidarity with their team, Norway’s Minister for Culture and Sports, Abid Raja, and politician, Lene Westgaard-Halle, censured the IHF for the forced bikini rule.

Perhaps, the outpouring of support for the Norwegian women’s beach handball team would lead to a re-evaluation of female uniforms across all sports and hopefully brings a much-awaited change, with women choosing what they want to wear.

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