Gender at the Paris 2024 Olympics
In many ways, the Paris Olympic Games were very positive for gender equality. It was the first games with near equal male and female athletes (not quite the 50-50 split it's been hailed to be, more on that later), the first to have a nursery in the Olympic village, we’ve seen demonstrations of women solidarity, and another non-binary athlete represented the US.
However, there have also been real issues around gender at the Olympics that represented wider problems within the fitness and sporting industry. So let’s talk about it.
The 50-50 split
In the lead up to the games, Paris was hailed as the first Olympics to have a 50-50 split for male and female athletes. The image below shows the infographic that was circulated and how far gender parity has come.
Graphic of the Olympic rings with the share of female athletes at different games highlighted as a pie chart.
However, this isn’t an accurate picture of gender parity at the Games. There are 5,630 male athletes to 5,416 female, 16 men’s teams in the football to 12 women’s teams, and 12 men’s football teams to 10 women’s teams. In fact, the opportunities for equality are less due to an unequal number of events, with 157 men’s events to 152 women’s.
Outside of the athletes, men still dominate the coaching and management spaces for most national teams. Around 1 in 10 coaches were female, slightly less than in Tokyo where 13% of coaches were women. While this Olympics should be praised for a more equal athlete split, there is still a way to go in making sure the events, those participating and those coaching are even.
Representation of motherhood
For the first time, the Olympics Village had a nursery for athletes. This is a huge step that demonstrates changes to the ‘careers’ of athletes as more return after having children, and more families attending the Games after not being able to in Tokyo. The nursery was spearheaded by Allyson Felix, US athlete who has spoken about her sponsorship disputes with Nike when she was pregnant. With the help of Pampers, who also provided child supplies such as wipes and nappies, the nursery allowed athletes to concentrate on their performance and spend downtime with loved ones, and many athletes have requested it be continued and expanded for future games.
There were also a number of athletes who competed while pregnant, which was a great demonstration of strength and the additional challenges some athletes face. Nada Hafez from Egypt competed in the fencing at seven months pregnant, and described herself as ‘fencing for two’. Yaylagul Ramazanova represented Azerbaijan in archery and said she felt her baby kick ahead of her final arrow. It has been great to see mothers represented in a positive way at Paris 2024, as strong athletes and women that benefit from institutional support, such as the nursery.
Left: Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez crying after competing. Right: Azerbaijani archer Yaylagul Ramazanova firing her final arrow.
Protection of Women
In multiple ways, women have not been adequately protected at this Olympics. Firstly, a convicted rapist was allowed to compete. Steven van de Velde was sentenced to four years for raping a 12-year-old in the UK. Despite a petition with 135,000 signatures to have him banned from competing, the IOC deferred to national committees and allowed the Netherlands committee to select him as part of the team. He was not allowed to stay in the Olympic Village, but allowing him to compete at all is an affront to all the women and girls competing and watching around the world.
The limited uproar around van de Velde competing is especially problematic when compared to the attacks faced by boxers Imane Khelif (Algeria) and Lin Yu-ting (Taiwan) when their gender was called into question. Both boxers faced a previous ban imposed by the IBA, an organisation and decision that has since been discredited, and the media and celebrities villainised the pair, claiming they are men competing as women. Khelif and Lin are both biological women and have competed for several years ahead of Paris 2024. The dispute was turned into a conversation about transgender athletes, which demonstrates how dangerous transphobia is for everyone. Khelif and Lin both won in their respective weight classes, and Khelif has launched a lawsuit against certain celebrities and outlets for defamation. In response to the uproar, the IOC issued a statement that they were both women, but did little to quell the media circus. These women were not protected from transphobic allegations that overshadowed their exceptional performances in the ring.
Paris also highlighted how not all women are protected. France’s ban on hijabs in sport was upheld for the French team, in a move hailed as negating their aim to be gender-equal and a potential human rights violation. The Olympic values are ‘excellence, respect and friendship’, values that weren’t extended to Muslim women. In the final medal ceremony of the Games, marathon gold medallist Sifan Hassan wore a hijab, as a powerful statement. Another athlete, Manizha Talash competing for the Refugee team, unveiled a cape reading ‘Free Afghan Women’ during the breaking competition. She was disqualified for violating Rule 50 of the Olympic charter against ‘political, religious, or racial propaganda’. The disparity between strict rules against these women and the acceptance of a convicted rapist demonstrate that women have not been protected at the Paris 2024 Games.
Sifan Hassan wearing a hijab at the final medal ceremony of the Paris Games. She received gold for the marathon.
Women Excellence
To end on a more positive note, I want to focus on a few of the examples we saw at Paris of women excellence. Simon Biles became the most decorated gymnast of all time as she won an additional four medals (three gold) at the Paris Games. The image of the floor medal ceremony went viral as Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowed down to gold medallist, Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, showing the genuine support and admiration among the top athletes and women.
US gymnasts Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bows to Brazilian gold medallist Rebeca Andrade as she takes to the podium.
US swimmer Katie Ledecky solidified herself as the woman with the most gold Olympic swimming medals as she claimed a ninth, and joint in total medals with Australian swimmer Emma McKeon with 14 total. The Games also made Ledecky the most decorated US women Olympian.
Although Paris saw less world records broken than in previous years, women broke more World and Olympic records than in the men’s events, according to the Bleacher Report, totalling 28 records broken.
The Paris Olympics were contradictory when looking at its approach to gender. On the one hand, we saw women’s athletic excellence, better representation of mothers, and the most equal gender representation we have seen at the Olympics. On the other hand, women were not protected from a convicted rapist or transgender hatred, sending clear messages about women’s place in sport and society. Let’s hope LA and future Olympic Games will learn from the positives and negatives we’ve seen at Paris to ensure women are fairly represented and supported in their Olympic achievements.
