The Starting Line: Where Women Are Still Barred From Olympic Participation

Sarah at Think Girl relays this report from NYT:

". . . despite the Olympic Charter’s prohibition against any form of discrimination, including sex discrimination, a handful of countries bar women from participating in Olympic sports for cultural and religions reasons and will field male-only teams at the Beijing Games. Those countries include Brunei, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Other countries restrict women’s participation in sports that require 'immodest dress.' At the 2004 Athens Games, . . . Iran’s only female athletes competed in pistol and rifle shooting."

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Of course, this continues the original tradition of the Olympics started by men for men only in Greece:

"The original Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were celebrated until AD 393. . . Paris was . . . the first Olympic Games where women were allowed to compete [in AD 1900]."