Will The Paris 2024 Olympics Truly Be Gender-Equal?

Although 28 out of 32 sports will be fully gender-equal in Paris, many disciplines are still characterized as “men’s sports,” and there are lingering discrepancies based on the age-old belief that women are the weaker sex. For instance, at the Olympics women can compete in the seven-event heptathlon, but not the 10-event decathlon, which remains for men only. (In 2021, Jordan Gray, the US record-holder in the women’s decathlon, launched a petition in favor of adding the event to the Olympics — she has received more than 30,800 signatures so far.) The idea that women athletes are “lesser than” is a problem that exists everywhere in sport, and at every level — it’s still not a good thing to be told “you throw like a girl.”