#GenderEqualOlympics: Celebrating full gender parity on the field of play

Lausanne (FIL/08. March 2024) On International Women's Day on March 8, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is celebrating a monumental achievement to be reached at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris 2024: The IOC has divided the quota places equally between female and male athletes - 50:50. For the first time in Olympic history, there will be complete gender parity on the field of play.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will be the most gender balanced Winter Games to date. "The FIL will create equal opportunities for female and male athletes. We are absolutely moving in this direction and will have women's doubles at the start for the first time at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. There will be three female and three male athletes in a team relay and there will be the same number of medal opportunities for both genders," promises FIL President Einars Fogelis.

Over the years, the IOC's commitment to gender equality has seen the Olympic Movement steadily increase the number of female athletes at the Olympic Games. At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, when women competed for the first time, they made up just 2.2 percent. Since Los Angeles 1984, the number has gradually increased and now stands at 23%, in London 2012 at 44% and in Tokyo 2020 at 48%.

"We are about to celebrate one of the most important moments in the history of women at the Olympic Games and in sport as a whole," said IOC President Thomas Bach.