In a world that has censored women and their bodies, the Lionesses' Chloe_Kelly98’s unbridled, unselfconscious, top-off celebrations proved we are firmly in a new era.
Dr Nicola Brown, an associate professor in female health and performance, at St Mary’s University, London, knows the issue well, and told: “That image is so powerful and so is the reaction. It’s not been sexualised, it’s not about how she looks, it’s a real message of freedom through sport. Kelly has given us an iconic image of a female athlete celebrating what it is to be an athlete. It’s a celebration of what women – and sportswomen – are capable of.
Kelly’s introduction to the game was playing inside a caged, gravel football pitch on the estate she grew up on, in Ealing, West London. Her decision to pull off her shirt – she started, then paused as the referee confirmed her goal, before tearing it off again in jubilation – was testament to an eye-opening freedom that the Lionesses have demonstrated all summer.
Their manager Sarina Wiegman, speaking in a press conference after the game, credited that freedom that her team felt when they play together as crucial ingredient in their success – particularly for younger members of the squad, like Kelly, who entered the game with fewer obstacles than the women who preceded them. Kelly acknowledged it herself: “The freedom that we have is brilliant and I think that shows,” she said of her team and manager, earlier in the tournament.
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