Equity & Access Cttee

Published in the Research School of Physics Event Horizon
Vol43 Issue57 19–23 February 2018

Female athletes race towards gender equality at Winter Olympics

Female athletes at the Winter Olympics are making history in the race for gender equality, but with the sporting world rocked by sex abuse scandals, experts say more women must be at the helm.

For the first time in the history of the Winter Games, there are nearly as many female as male competitors - with women making up a record 43 percent of all athletes at Pyeongchang in South Korea, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said. 

From Nigeria’s trailblazing bobsleigh team to teenage Maame Biney - the first African-American to make the U.S. Olympic short-track speed skating team - female athletes at the Games are also enjoying unprecedented media exposure, researchers say.

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