We have heard a lot recently about men and women and the roles that they play in sports. It’s not unusual to hear about a biological male playing in a female sport or vice versa.
Sometimes, however, we may hear about someone who is able to play on both the women’s team and the men’s team, and that is the case with Henry Fieldman. He recently made history because he is the first Olympian to win medals in the same event for both genders.
35-year-old Henry Fieldman is on both the women’s and the men’s rowing teams at the Olympics. He is a coxswain, which is the member of the team that steers the boat. You can recognize them because they face the rowers.
They do more than steer the boat, they also strategize and motivate the crew. During the practice sessions, they act as the coach.
Even though they aren’t as physically active on the boat as the rest of the participants, they are essential because they point the boats in the right direction, quickly if necessary.
Coxswains in the Olympics have a microphone and they pass on the instructions to the rowers which are then passed on through the rest of the boat.
In 2021, Henry represented the team Great Britain at the Tokyo Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the men’s competition.
He was also able to compete on the women’s team because of a rule in 2017 that allowed that position to be held by either a man or a woman.
Henry won the bronze medal in Paris at the Olympics, which was a ‘real joy’ to him. He admits that the rule was changed in 2017 so somebody was going to be the first, and it was him.
He expressed his admiration for the women on the team, saying that every stroke was harder on average for women than for men. He speaks about the support they have among themselves and how they are up for the challenge.