Women’s Athletics Are a Big Story at Paris 2024 … But Equality Remains a Challenge

This is the first Olympics which will have true parity in terms of male versus female athletes and competitors. It’s a big story here at the Olympics, and rightfully so, but the Games also showcase a different reality that may not be realistic to project onto fan behavior outside these Games. Unlike non-Olympic time sports audiences, fans here and watching on TV seem equally excited and tuned in for sports like swimming, track & field, or tennis, as well as less popular sports like badminton, judo or weightlifting. In particular, popular sports like soccer and basketball seem equally popular here at the Olympics across the male or female competitions, but that seems unlikely to translate to the relative popularity of either sport when it comes to the professional levels due to the absence of most major male star athletes at both.

The progress for female athletes also seems limited when you consider the delegations from the vast majority of countries where their athletic teams remain predominately male. The gains for female athletes at the moment seem heavily weighted towards wealthy European regions and Western countries. Plus the coaching ranks remain mostly men. So it’s good progress, but the numbers in this case and all the celebration about parity may tell a story that isn’t entirely complete and be a bit premature in this case.