Dawna Townsend becomes first woman to referee an American team's game at Summer Games

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When the American men's basketball team took to the court to face Angola last night, they saw something they'd never seen before.

A female official.

A Canadian female official.

Dawna Townsend of Toronto, one of only a handful of female referees at the Beijing Games, was assigned to do the United States game, marking the first time since NBA players joined the Olympics in 1992 that a woman had officiated one of their games.

It was a ground-breaking moment for both Townsend and the game.

"I was absolutely surprised (to get the assignment) and then it was just more of, `Okay, let's make sure I ref it like any other game,'" said Townsend, who also works part-time as the official scorer at Raptor home games.

That Toronto connection hit home before the game started when Chris Bosh sidled up to Townsend just in front of the scorer's bench.

"Chris came up to me and said, `How're you doing?'" said Townsend, who worked alongside Australia's Scott Butler and Pablo Estevez of Argentina.

"You really didn't notice her and that's what you want in a ref," said Raptor assistant coach and CBC analyst Jay Triano, who broadcast the game. "She made authoritative calls, she wasn't afraid or at all intimidated by the big guys."

It's not as if Townsend hasn't been around NBA players, though. Nor is it that she doesn't have vast international refereeing experience.

She's officiated at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, last summer's FIBA under-19 women's championship and the Asian Games in Qatar two years ago. She's heard the snide remarks and open complaints - when another female official was assigned a men's game involving Qatar, the host nation lodged an official protest - that come with the territory.

Any jitters last night didn't last more than a couple of minutes and then Townsend could have been calling any game anywhere. She got a nod of approval from Bosh after calling the Raptor forward for an offensive foul and U.S. point guard Jason Kidd complimented her on another close call.

Canada has had a female official at every Olympics since women's basketball became medal sport in 1976, except for Sydney in 2000. Canadian Janice Deakin became the first Canadian to referee a medal game - bronze in 1996 in Atlanta - but none had done a men's Olympic game until Townsend stepped on the court last night.

She is one of 30 FIBA-sanctioned officials here and worked the first game of the women's tournament as well. Steve Siebel of Kamloops, B.C., is also here as an official.

About 10 per cent of the just over 1,000 FIBA-sanctioned officials worldwide are women, up considerably from about 4 per cent in 2004 because the global organization is trying to make a push to entice more women to ref.

 

– Torstar News Service