Paris 2024 was celebrated as the first ‘gender-equal’ Olympics in history and a 50:50 balance in male and female participants was widely communicated.
There were certainly some incredible performances by female athletes and wonderful moments, including Keely Hodgkinson’s blistering run and Bryony Page defying gravity on the trampoline. On her ‘redemption tour’, Simone Biles cemented her status as the best gymnast of all time and Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s silver medal at her fourth Games was a testament to her grit and resilience.
It felt wonderfully normal to see athletes, including Team GB’s Amber Rutter and Helen Glover, celebrating with their children. In the athlete village, a family room was set up for the first time – a project spearheaded by 11-time Olympic medallist Allyson Felix – with the aim of helping parents to compete.
At the Stade de France, the women’s rugby 7s drew record-breaking crowds of 66,000 and propelled the USA’s Ilona Maher to superstardom. Her call for increased investment in the sport was answered by investor Michele Kang, who committed $4m to the USA women’s rugby programme. Kang is hoping this will go some way to close the gender gap and “become a pioneer of female performance research so we can stop training women as if they are simply small men and unlock their true potential”. Hallelujah.
However, behind all this and the encouraging narrative of progress lies a troubling truth – equality of the sexes in sport remains a fragile illusion. And it is certainly has not been aided by the IOC, the very institution that should be the staunchest defender of equality.
On the surface, the strides made in women’s sport are undeniable. All but equal representation in athlete participation, increased media coverage and the breaking of long-standing barriers have been significant milestones. But these achievements often mask deeper systemic issues that continue to undermine true equality. The 2024 Olympics were supposed to be a turning point, but the foundations felt a bit shaky, exposing the fragility of the progress made so far.
If we dig a little deeper, the numbers reveal that all was not entirely equal from the start. Male athletes in fact outnumbered female athletes (5,630 to 5,416) and more men’s teams were able to compete in football and water polo, with the IOC stating “cost” to explain this. Overall, there were 157 men’s events compared with 152 for women. Six national teams at the Olympics failed to bring any women at all.
The inequality in numbers is much more serious behind the scenes. In Paris, around one in 10 coaches was female. According to the Female Coaching Network, across the Games, the number of female head coaches in team sports (football, basketball, handball, hockey, rugby, volleyball and waterpolo) has also fallen.
The reality is men still dominate at all levels of sport. In the closed chats of the national governing body leaders during the Olympics men still vastly outnumbered women. It perhaps came as no surprise that camera operators still needed reminding not to frame female competitors in a sexist way, reminding us of how women in sport continue to be portrayed, despite progress from rock bottom forty years ago.
Policing women’s clothing
For centuries, women have faced barriers preventing them from participating in sport: from exclusion over fears our bodies were too fragile to hack it, to societal expectation that dictated our place was anywhere but on the field. Today, the Olympic Charter guarantees the right of athletes to participate without discrimination, including against their religion. So, it was shocking that France banned their female athletes from wearing hijabs as a result of their secularist laws. Policing the way women (never men) dress is a sickening distraction from the joy of sport, from its true value and speaks volumes about where women sit in the pecking order.
Rather than step in and enforce Olympic values, the leadership at the IOC did nothing. Instead, images of Sifan Hassan, wearing her hijab on top the podium after winning gold in the women’s Olympic marathon, has become one of the iconic and powerful moments of the Games. In that one moment, she sent a message to young Muslim girls everywhere: they do belong.
Keeping misogyny alive
Pierre de Coubertin, the French co-founder of the modern Olympic Games once said that the Games were about the “solemn periodic exultation of male athleticism… with female applause as a reward.” I don’t think many women around the world, and definitely not the large number of women and girls who have suffered sexual abuse or rape, were applauding when the IOC turned a blind eye to the participation of a convicted child rapist. The criminal justice system is wholly inadequate at addressing the scourge of rape with paltry conviction rates, short sentences for the few convicted, and inadequate support for, sometimes even appalling treatment of victims. I don’t know the details of this case, but if a convicted sex offender is genuinely repentant and considered not to represent an ongoing risk to women and girls, then having served their sentence it is hard to argue against their re-integration into life and work, however, surely not onto a world stage to be applauded and celebrated. What message does this send to those men and boys swept up in the growing tide of misogyny?
To add insult to injury, two male coaches, one a known child sex offender, another accused by multiple athletes of abuse, including rape, were granted accreditation for the Games. These are critical issues that sports governance needs to start addressing with far greater seriousness.
The role of woman in the world remains as it always has been. She is above all a companion to man, the future mother of the family and should be brought up with such a fate in mind.
Pierre de Coubertin, Co-founder of the IOC
The cost of inaction
The consequences of this lack of leadership are most acutely felt by the female athletes themselves, as demonstrated in the controversy that surrounded the women’s boxing. The situation we saw play out on the world stage could have been avoided if the IOC had not shirked its responsibility by leaving individual sports to make up their own rules as who can participate in the female category. As former Olympic rower, Cath Bishop eloquently writes in The Guardian [of the IOC’s male leaders], “with so much power and authority, are out of their depth in understanding what it means to protect the female category in sport.”
Of course, any anger over this should not be directed at individual participants who are operating within the rules, because responsibility falls squarely at the feet of those in positions of power who have failed to act. Indecision has a steep price.
Ahead of LA 2028, we need the IOC to take meaningful action if equality of the sexes in sport is to be more than just a lofty ambition.
Women in Sport
The call for courageous leadership
Over the course of the Olympics, we witnessed numerous displays of resilience, grit, strength and courage. Women determined to break barriers and prove what is possible. Ahead of LA 2028, we need the IOC to take meaningful action if equality of the sexes in sport is to be more than just a lofty ambition.
True progress in women’s sport will require leaders who are willing to take bold and courageous actions, even when it’s uncomfortable. Leaders in sport must be willing to challenge entrenched systems of inequality, to hold themselves and others accountable and to push for change that goes beyond metrics.
The IOC and other sports governing bodies must recognise that their legacy will not be defined by the number of women who participate in their events, but by the actions they take to ensure that those women are truly treated as equals. The athletes deserve nothing less and the world is watching.
