For the first time in Olympic history, the Games will feature an equal 50:50 ratio between male and female athletes, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced today.
The milestone represents a significant step forward in gender equality in sports. In 1900, when the Olympic Games first included women, only 2.2% of the athletes were female.
Over the decades, this number has steadily increased, reaching 48% at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Now, as Paris hosts the Olympics for the third time, women officially make up half of the Olympic field.
“This historic achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of countless individuals and organizations who have championed the cause of gender equality in sports,” CNN quoted Bach as saying.
“We have come a long way since 1900, and we are proud to host an Olympic Games that truly embodies the Olympic spirit of inclusion and diversity,” he said during a press conference at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In 1922, a small gathering of female athletes led by French sports pioneer Alice Milliat staged their own Women’s World Games, protesting the exclusion of women from the Olympics and sparking a movement for change.
Back then, Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin’s vision of the Games was as a male-dominated event, with women relegated to the role of spectators.
As he wrote in 1912, the Olympics was meant to be an “exaltation of male athleticism … with the applause of women as a reward.”
Today, the IOC’s efforts towards reaching gender parity culminated in the equal distribution of quota places for male and female athletes at the Paris 2024 Games.
While the final numbers fell slightly short of perfect parity – 5,630 male athletes to 5,416 female athletes – the representation of women in the Olympic field has reached an unprecedented 49%, up from just 11.4% in 1960.