An equal game? How to achieve true equality at the 2028 Olympics

The first #gender-equal Olympics. That’s the message organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics are promoting – but just how ‘equal’ will the global sporting extravaganza really be?

The numbers were supposed to be gender-equal, with the same number of “quotas” for male and female athletes. But in reality, there were more male athletes than female athletes (5,630 to 5,416), more male teams in football and water polo (16 to 12 and 12 to 10, respectively), and more male events than female events (157 to 152). At least most countries chose One female athlete and one male athlete serve as flag bearersan initiative launched in Tokyo.

The lack of female coaches also speaks volumes. While the athlete split is approaching 50:50, the sidelines are still dominated by men. In Paris, about one in ten coaches is female, which is not much different from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, when women made up just 13% of all coaches.

Then, Olympic videographers were told not to film female competitors in a sexist way. The fact that organizers felt the need to issue such a directive says something about the way female athletes have been portrayed throughout history — and how that image has not changed to this day.

Clearly, equality is not yet truly achieved at the Olympics. In fact, arguably the most significant step for equality in sports in Paris over the past few weeks has taken place outside of the stadiums. Michelle Kang, who owns three women’s football clubs (London City Women, Olympique Lyonnais and Washington Spirit), pledged $50m (£39m) to fund research into the health and performance of female athletes and launched the Kynisca Innovation Centre. With only 6% of sports science research currently focused on women, this could be a global game changer.

So how can the 2028 Olympics achieve true equality in Los Angeles?

Level playing field and swimming pool

Adding four soccer teams would mean 72 more male athletes than female athletes in Paris. Increasing the number of women’s soccer and water polo teams would present financial and logistical challenges, but recent Olympics have demonstrated huge interest in women’s sports, with record spectator numbers for rugby, basketball and handball. Or if the costs are deemed too high, the number of men’s teams could be reduced. By the time the flame is lit in Los Angeles, there should be an equal number of men’s and women’s teams in these sports.

Develop clear policies

While many incredible feats took place in Paris, one story stands out above all others: The battle of the sexes in boxingIman Khalif and Lin Yuting sparked outrage after they failed to pass the gender eligibility test held by the International Boxing Association last year to compete in the women’s category. The two athletes who were accused of being female were caught in a heated debate. Donald Trump, JK Rowling and Elon Musk also weigh in discuss highly personal information and question their existence, while opponents express fear for their lives and XX protests were held See female chromosomes.

This could have been avoided if the IOC had a clear policy in place. Instead, it has been passing the buck and decided in November 2021 that it is up to individual sports to decide whether transgender and DSD athletes can compete.