THOSE who think that women today have finally found equality on the sports field had better think again.

Over 40 years ago Kathrine Switzer shocked the world when she officially, although illegally, entered and completed the Boston Marathon. It was a story which has been told countless times and since that famous marathon, Switzer has been leading the fight for women to compete in races around the world. She was at the forefront of the movement to get the International Olympic Committee to finally allow women to compete in the marathon at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Now in 2008 women can compete in nearly everything men can ¿ football, cricket, Olympic events ¿ anything.

Actually to be more accurate it is women from "western" nations who can compete in nearly everything.

That, Switzer said, does not apply to women from such countries as Saudi Arabia, Iran and much of the Middle East.

Switzer is in Bermuda this week to compete in International Race Weekend and will run the Bermuda Triangle Series ¿ the Front Street Mile tonight, the 10K tomorrow and the Half Marathon on Sunday.

"In some countries women simply cannot compete in sports period," she said while relaxing at the Fairmont Princess in Hamilton ¿ her sponsor for this weekend's competition.

"There is still a lot of work to do," she added.

And she is determined to "continue to fight the good fight".

She said: "I am really concerned about the globalization of sport. Many countries do not even allow their women to go to the Olympics and there are tremendous social and cultural barriers to overcome ¿ that is a hard grind. The IOC to their credit are thinking about having quotas where if countries are going to send a team, they have to send a percentage of women. I hope it comes to that because there are problems in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria ¿ many Muslim countries."

Switzer has seen how many women want to run and compete in sports in general all around the world.

"Sisterhood is global. But everytime I look at the advances we have made in the quote/unquote European countries, it is phenomenal how backwards it is in other places."

But it is not only Muslim countries that has a strong resistance to women competing in sports.

Switzer remembered when she organised her running programme for an event in Italy in only the late 1990s.

"It was a 5K and 10K race in Milan for women. It was a such a success but I remember many women coming up to me and saying 'this is the only time I am allowed to run publically. The rest of time I get such a hard time from people in the street or from my family'. I found that just amazing ¿ this was Italy in the late 1990s!"

As it turned out Switzer said: "We took over the street. We had an elite section at the front followed by joggers and then masses of women walking. It was a really big deal for them to go out into the streets and participate. I thought Italy was well beyond that."

The resistance to those women competing in Milan was due to a sexist and macho culture rather than a religious culture, said Switzer.

"In places like Saudi Arabia and Iran women cannot run in shorts and bare their faces. They cannot even drive a car never mind running. I am afraid it is going to take a long time to break down that resistance. One of the problems is, because it is a religious conviction the women believe it themselves as much as the men do."

And because many women in those countries believe that women shouldn't be competing, Switzer said: "You do not want to be in people's faces too much ¿ you want to offer the opportunity. It is an educational and opportunity thing. If the IOC mandated a quota in that a country would have to have a percentage of women athletes that could create the opportunity. It would be a good thing ¿ we have to break the links in some place."

As it stands the Olympic charter states that "any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement".

But it is not even getting Muslim women into the Olympics which is the biggest barrier.

"The biggest barrier is getting them permission to go out the door and run in their own street ¿ just go out and run and train with safety," said Switzer.

"I am adamant about women participating in sports ¿ particularly running. You do not need any money or coaches and it gives you an incredible sense of self esteem and empowerment. I know empowerment is an overused word but when you run you feel you can do anything. For a lot of women who are perhaps single moms and life is tough, when they go out and run they feel they can do anything. Many women have come up to me and said that after hearing what I have to say they have gone out and done their first marathon and they feel they can do anything. Their whole lives have changed."

Despite the problems of Muslim women competing in running and other sports, Switzer said there are fantastic role models for those Muslim women. And one is the great runner from Morocco, Nawal El Moutawakel who became the first Muslim and African female Olympic champion when she famously won the gold in the 400 metres hurdles at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Moutawakel has since become a friend of Switzer and the American woman said: "She is a big hero. She has used her fame well and is a real mover and shaker."

Last year Moutawakel was named Minister of Sport in Morocco and is also a member of the IOC.

"It was a fantastic story when she won the gold meal. Morocco's king, Hassan II, was one of her biggest fans and after she won he declared that all girls born on that day would be named Nawal in honour of her achievements!"

But Switzer added that Moutawakel still faces some of life's hurdles in her country despite her achievement.

"She copied my running programme and started a 5K all-women's run in Casablanca. She managed to get 5,000 women out but she told me once that she had a hard time getting sponsorship. How is it, one of the most promising Muslim women in the world, has a hard time getting sponsorship for her race? It is amazing to me but the problem was that people (businesses) are still scared (of supporting a women's event)."

Another Muslim woman who won a gold medal has also had to deal with much hatred.

Switzer said that Algeria's Hassiba Boulmerka won the Olympic gold in the 1,500-metres in 1992 in Barcelona. "But she was denounced by some people and was in danger. In fact I think she had to train in another country."

Back in 1967 when Switzer made history by running in the Boston Marathon and having co-race director Jock Semple famously try to push her off the course, she said that the prejudice to her running was sexist and also through "medical myths".

She said: "It was like people saying 'she is a danger to herself'."

And it was not only much of the general public who thought that but even her own coach who was eventually convinced that women could run the marathon.

"My coach (Arnie Briggs) and I were in snow storm training and he was talking about the Boston Marathon. I said that I wanted to run it and he said that women cannot run the Boston Marathon. I said 'what are you talking about' and he said that women are not physiologically capable. I lost my temper and I said 'I am running 10 miles in a snow storm now so why can't I run a marathon'?

He said women just could not do it. I told him that women have been running marathons throughout history ¿ the previous year a woman ran in Boston in 1966 although she had to jump out of bushes ¿ and she ran it pretty well. He lost his temper and said 'no dame could ever run a marathon'."

After a while the coach relented and said that if any woman could run a marathon it was Switzer.

"But he said that I had to show him first that I could do it show him in practise. I was determined to prove it to him and we trained a lot for it. We did it ¿ in fact we ran another five miles (after the marathon distance) and after coming in after a 31-mile workout he was nearly passing out. He said he realised then that woman have hidden potential ¿ they have hidden stamina."

Switzer said that it wasn't until much later that she found out that Briggs was getting a lot of grief from his friends for training her. "People were giving him all kinds of grief in his regular life after seeing us running on the roads. They said he was going to ruin that girl ¿ she is going to get big legs, she is not going to have kids ¿ all those old myths. They said she is going to have hair on her chest. He was afraid to push me too far because he was afraid that those myths would come true.

"Every day he was afraid whereas I felt that I was discovering a new world."

The response to her running the Boston Marathon and then winning the 1974 New York Marathon was very upbeat ¿ especially from her fellow runners. "I never had any problems from other runners ¿ they were all very supportive," she said. However she did get hate mail as well. "I also got a lot of religious hate mail. People saying that 'you are going to fry in hell' and 'God is going to condemn you'. But it didn't bother me because I got so much fan mail. I could laugh it off because I never felt afraid ¿ the only time I did get a bit nervous was during a big marathon because by then women were getting a tremendous amount of attention and I didn't know if there was going to be some jerk with a gun. People can be weird."

Switzer has run 35 marathons "and finished every one I started".