Letter of the Day | Paris 2024: A historic leap towards gender equality
Published:Thursday | July 11, 2024 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
With the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris right around the corner, the excitement in athletics has reached fever pitch. A significant milestone achieved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this year is the creation of equal opportunities for female and male athletes to participate, marking a major step forward in promoting gender equality in sports. As a passionate observer, I’m feeding off the mounting excitement in Jamaica, where anticipation is high to see our track and field stars, including Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, compete. Additionally, I’m eager to witness Sha’Carri Richardson’s début at her first Olympics, as she undoubtedly has something to prove on this global stage.
The IOC has successfully achieved gender parity for Paris 2024. This announcement by Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, aligns seamlessly with the 2024 International Women’s Day theme, “Inspire Inclusion”. Paris 2024 is set to be the most gender-equal iteration in the Games’ storied history, with approximately 10,500 athlete quota spaces distributed equally between men and women. By collaborating with International Sports Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Paris Games will feature 28 out of 32 sports with full gender equality. The schedule includes 152 women’s events, 157 men’s events, and 20 mixed-gender events. Bach remarked, “We will see the results of the enormous efforts made by the Olympic movement and female trailblazers come to life. This is our contribution to a more gender-equal world.”
PROFOUND SIGNIFICANCE
This achievement holds profound significance for two primary reasons: first, women were entirely absent from the ancient Olympic Games held between 779 BCE and 393 CE; second, women’s participation in the modern Olympics only began centuries later, at the 1900 Paris Games. The ancient Olympic Games were originally established as a religious festival in Olympia, Greece, to honour Zeus, the strongest of the gods, and were thus a celebration of male strength. The games were banned in 393 CE by Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I due to their perceived pagan nature. When Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympics in 1896, women were excluded, as he believed the Games celebrated virility or male strength. However, by 1900, 22 women were permitted to participate, albeit only in events deemed more suited to feminine abilities, such as tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf. Track & Field was not included for women until the 1928 Amsterdam Games, where American Betty Robinson became the first woman to win a track & field title. It wasn’t until the 1948 London Games that Alice Coachman of the USA became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal, achieving this milestone in the high jump.
Jamaica made its Olympic début at the 1948 London Games, where the nation secured its first gold medal and began its remarkable sprinting tradition. Among the early pioneers in women’s track and field for Jamaica was Una L. Morris, who placed fourth at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Fast forward to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay team delivered a breathtaking performance to claim the gold medal, reinforcing their dominance in sprinting. The team, consisting of the exceptional Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, and Briana Williams, executed seamless baton exchanges and demonstrated extraordinary speed. Thompson-Herah, fresh off her individual sprint victories, anchored the team to a blistering finish with a time of 41.02 seconds, the second-fastest ever recorded. It is indeed unfortunate that Elaine Thompson-Herah will not be participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics due to injury. Her absence is a significant loss to the games, as her exceptional talent and remarkable performances have been a source of inspiration to many, especially in Jamaica.
KADINE N. FERGUSON