Norway's beach handball players will no longer have to compete in bikinis, the sport's international federation has decided.
Female playersunless they wore midriff-baring tops and bikini bottoms"with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg." Male players, meanwhile, were allowed to play in tank tops and shorts no longer than 4 inches above the knee.
Norwegian Handball Federation President Kåre Geir Lio called the change"both a real and symbolic step" towards combatting gender inequality in the sport. "I think it’s good for the game, but first of all, it’s good for the women, and it’s good for how we treat each other in sports," he told NBC News by phone from Bodø, Norway, on Monday.
While the new uniform regulations still differ between men and women — women’s shorts are still required to be fitted, whereas men have no such rule — Lio said that the female players had told him they played better in the tight shorts, and were “very satisfied” with their new ability to choose the length.
Norway’s women’s team received support from all over the world after after players wore their preferred thigh-length elastic shorts during a match on Jul. 25 to protest against the regulation bikini-bottom design that they saidThe Norwegian Handball Federation has pushed for a change to the uniform rules since 2006, but the women’s protest in July was a turning point, Lio said.
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