The first #GenderEqualOlympics. That is how the Paris 2024 organisers billed the recent Games – but just how “equal” was the global sporting showpiece?
There was supposed to be gender parity in terms of participation, with the same number of “quota places” for female and male athletes. In reality, there were more male than female athletes (5,630 to 5,416), more men’s teams competed in the football and water polo events (16 to 12 and 12 to 10 respectively), and there were more men’s events than women’s (157 to 152). At least most countries selected a female and male athlete to be flagbearers, an initiative introduced in Tokyo.
The lack of female coaches was also telling. We may be edging towards 50:50 in terms of athletes but men still dominate on the sidelines. In Paris, around one in 10 coaches was female, which is not too dissimilar to Tokyo three years ago, when women made up just 13 per cent of all coaches.
Then you have camera operators at the Games being told not to frame female competitors in a sexist way. That organisers felt the need to give this instruction tells its own story about the way female athletes have historically been portrayed – and that it has yet to change.
It is clear that the Olympics is not yet truly equal. In fact, arguably the most significant step taken towards sporting equality in Paris over the past few weeks happened away from the sports venues. Michele Kang, who owns three women’s football clubs – London City Lionesses, Lyon and Washington Spirit, committed $50 million (£39 million) to help fund research into the health and performance of female athletes as she launched the Kynisca Innovation Hub. With only six per cent of sport science research focused on women, that could be a global game-changer.
So how can the Olympics create true parity at Los Angeles in 2028?
Level playing field – and pool
Four more football teams equates to 72 more male players than female in Paris. Increasing the number of women’s football and water polo teams presents financial and logistical challenges, but the recent Games proved the huge appetite for women’s sport, with record attendances at the rugby, basketball and handball. Or if it is deemed too expensive, reduce the number of men’s teams. There should be the same number of men’s and women’s teams in these events by the time the flame is lit in LA.
Set clear policies
For all the incredible feats in Paris, one story dominated: the gender row in boxing. The involvement of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting in the women’s category after they had failed gender eligibility tests conducted by the International Boxing Association last year sparked outrage. Two athletes brought up as women found themselves at the centre of a toxic debate, with Donald Trump, JK Rowling and Elon Musk chipping in to discuss highly personal information and questioning their very being, while opponents spoke of fearing for their lives and performed XX protests to reference female chromosomes.
That situation could have been avoided if the International Olympic Committee had set clear policies. Instead, it has continually passed the buck, deciding in November 2021 that it was down to individual sports to determine whether transgender and DSD (differences in sexual development) athletes could participate.