Women’s participation in the Olympic Games, a long road to equality

Female participation in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be similar to four years ago in London, close to equality but not quite there yet.

The International Olympic Committee, or IOC, expects some 4,700 female athletes will compete in Rio, dozens more than at London 2012, when the figure was 4,676, accounting for about 45 percent of total competitors.

The Olympic program features 28 sports for male and female athletes.

Of the 306 medal competitions, 161 are for males, 136 for females and nine mixed in tennis, badminton and equestrian events.

The Atlanta Games in 1996 marked a milestone by having more than onethird female participation 34 percent versus 28 percent at Barcelona 1992.

Since Sydney 2000, the growth in women’s participation has been limited to 2 percent every four years.

The IOC requires new sports wishing to enter the Olympic program to provide equal tests; however, there are several traditional sports, such as wrestling, that have lesser parity, with 13 men’s and four women’s events, and canoeing with eight men’s to three women’s regattas for calm waters.

Since the 2012 London Games, boxing offers three weight categories for women compared to 10 for men.

Swimming is the only sport that offers more medals to women than men, but two medals are for synchronized swimming and team swimming, which are reserved for females.

The London Games were the first in which all 204 teams included women.

Missy Franklin, Lauren Jackson, Simone Biles, Lydia Ko, Catherine Ibargüen, Tamika Catchings, Serena Williams, Carolina Marin, Yana Kudryavtseva, Federica Pellegrini, Allyson Felix and Katie Ledecky will be among the female athletes competing in Rio.