Tokyo Olympics 2020 creates history, becomes first-ever gender-balanced Olympic Games

The recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games achieved a massive feat as it became the most gender-balanced Olympics in its 125-year history with almost 49% of participating athletes being women.

Notably, a total of 11,900 athletes from around the world participated in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, which included 5,704 men and 5,386 female athletes. Moreover, for the first time ever, all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) sent at least one female in their respective Olympic teams.

Also, there were some countries whose Tokyo Olympics contingents included more women athletes than men.

Australia sent 480 athletes to participate in the Tokyo Olympics out of which 257 were women while 223 were men. Similarly, the UK had a contingent of a total of 376 athletes and it included 200 women and 176 male athletes. Likewise, 381 Canadian athletes participated in the Olympics, including 233 women and 148 men. And a total of 406 Chinese athletes participated in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, which had 281 women and 125 men.

Speaking of the Indian contingent, a total of 126 athletes participated in the Tokyo Olympics which included 71 men and 55 women.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the Tokyo Olympics as a milestone for gender-balanced Games.

Guterres tweeted, “At Tokyo 2020, almost 49% of the athletes are women, making these Olympics the most gender-balanced games in history and a landmark for gender balance in sport.”

"Let's all support all the inspiring #WomenInSport who are defying gender stereotypes and demonstrating equality," he added.

At #Tokyo2020, almost 49% of the athletes are women, making these @Olympics the most gender-balanced games in history and a landmark for gender balance in sport.

Let's all support all the inspiring #WomenInSport who are defying gender stereotypes and demonstrating equality. pic.twitter.com/9kB4ITILKu

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 7, 2021

It is worth mentioning that female athletes were excluded from the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 because its founder, Pierre de Coubertin, felt their participation would be inappropriate.

“No matter how toughened a sportswoman may be, her organism is not cut out to sustain certain shocks,” the French educator and historian said then.

Coubertin also believed, "an Olympiad with females would be impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and improper."

However, in the 1900 Paris Games women were finally allowed to compete in tennis and golf and soon afterward in archery, gymnastics, skating, and swimming. These developments occurred as a result of pressure put on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by national sporting bodies and federations and not because of any positive action by the IOC.

Women Participants (in percentage) in all editions of Modern Olympics (1896-2020):

• 1896: 0%
• 1900: 2.2%
• 1904: 0.9%
• 1908: 1.8%
• 1912: 2%
• 1920: 2.4%
• 1924: 4.4%
• 1928: 9.6%
• 1932: 9%
• 1936: 8.3%
• 1948: 9.5%
• 1952: 10.5%
• 1956: 13.3%
• 1960: 11.4%
• 1964: 13.2%
• 1968: 14.2%
• 1972: 14.6%
• 1976: 20.7%
• 1980: 21.5%
• 1984: 23 %
• 1988: 26.1%
• 1992: 28.8%
• 1996: 34 %
• 2000: 38.2%
• 2004: 40.7%
• 2008: 42.4%
• 2012: 44.2%
• 2016: 45%
• 2020: 48.8%

Meanwhile, the 2024 Olympics, to be held in Paris, will be the first Games to have an equal number of women and male athletes. The Paris Olympics 2024 will have a quota of a total of 10,500 athletes, including 5,250 women and 5,250 men.