Women Empowerment - Major Countries Have Sent More Female Athletes To Tokyo Than Male

Keeping pace with the 'gender balanced' Games theme of the Tokyo Olympics, five major countries are sending more women athletes than men as per TNN. Great Britain, US, China, Australia and Canada have announced contingents with more female representation.

Russia, which will be entering the Games representing the Russian Olympic Committee and use the acronym ROC, is also sending more women. Russia is using ROC because it was banned by WADA from international sports for four years in 2019.

China is sending 431 athletes, which includes 298 female and 133 male athletes, at the Games. China's women representation is more than double that of men. The United States is sending a team of 613 athletes. It will have 329 women and 284 men in its ranks.

Great Britain, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA) that represents the United Kingdom, is going to be represented by 376 athletes, out of which 201 are female.

AP

Canada is sending a total of 370 athletes, out of which 225 are women and 145 men. Australia's numbers are also on similar lines. Out of 471 athletes that are going to participate at the Olympics, 252 are women and 219 men.

A total 329 Russian athletes under the ROC banner are participating at the Games and 183 out of them are female, while 146 are male athletes. Due to the WADA ban, Russia's overall numbers in terms of representation is relatively lower than the Games held in the past.

The United States, China, Great Britain and Russia have a history of dominating the Olympics in the past.

Back on International Women's Day this year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had announced that the Tokyo Olympics would be the first 'gender balanced' Games, with the total athletes comprising 49% women and 51% men.

AFP

"The IOC executive board also decided that there should be -- for the first time ever -- at least one female and one male athlete in every one of the 206 teams and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team participating at the Games. The National Olympic Committees of countries should nominate a female and a male athlete to jointly bear their flag during the Opening Ceremony. With these two initiatives, the IOC is sending a strong message to the world that gender balance is a reality at the Olympic Games," IOC president Thomas Bach had stated.

India, meanwhile, is sending 127 athletes including all the reserves, with a total of 71 men and 56 women. For hosts Japan, 552 athletes will take part -- out of which 293 are men and 259 are women.