Women made America and China Olympic toppers: India is also on the same path, won 15 medals in the last 3 games; 7 were won by women
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2800 years ago when the ancient Olympics were played, women were not allowed to participate, let alone watch the games. This was because the athletes used to participate without clothes. If a married woman was seen in the Olympics, there were orders to throw her down the mountain.
Modern Olympics started in 1896, there were no women in them either. Fifty years later, one in every 10 athletes was a woman. Now in 2024, the number of women has become equal to that of men, that is, every second athlete in the Paris Olympics will be a woman.
In the last 2 Olympic Games, women made America and China Olympic toppers. They won more medals than their men. India is also on the same path now, 7 out of the last 15 medals of the country have been won by women athletes. The country has also increased the number of women athletes rapidly.
In this story, we will know in 5 points about the participation of women in Olympics and how India is now moving ahead on the strength of women athletes…
1. Women were not allowed entry in the first Olympics
The first Olympic Games were held in 1896. At that time, there was not a single female athlete in any country’s team. Women were given entry for the first time in the second Olympics held in 1900. Then 22 female athletes participated. This was just 2.2% of the total number of athletes. By the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta, women’s participation had reached just 34%. In Tokyo, this number reached 48%. Now for the first time in Paris, 50% female and 50% male athletes are going to participate. That means for the first time in 129 years, there will be equal number of athletes in both categories.
2. Women are getting more medals for America and China than men
- Women have also played a big role in the success of America and China. In the Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro (2016), women won more medals than men for both America and China.
- In Rio, men won 56 medals including 18 gold for America. While women won 61 medals including 27 gold. For China, men won 28 medals including 12 gold. Whereas, women won 41 medals including 14 gold.
3. Indian women did not play in 9 Olympics
- India has participated in 24 Olympic Games so far. In 9 of these, not a single woman participated from the country. These include 5 Olympic Games before independence (1900, 1920, 1928, 1932, 1936) and 4 Olympic Games after independence (1948, 1960, 1968 and 1976).
- Apart from these, in 3 Olympic Games (1956, 1964 and 1972), only 1 female athlete from India was able to participate in the Olympics.
4. Women won 7 out of the last 15 medals for the country
- In the last 3 Olympic Games, India won a total of 15 medals. 7 of these were won by women.
- In the Rio Olympics (2016), both the medals for India were won by women players. Then PV Sindhu won silver in badminton and Sakshi Malik won bronze in wrestling.
- Women athletes have won a total of 8 medals from India. This was started by weightlifter Karnam Malleswari in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
5. For the first time in Tokyo Olympics, India fielded 55 female players
- A team of 69 men and 55 women players participated from India in Tokyo Olympics. This was the second consecutive Olympics in which more than 50 women participated from India. This time the number of women is less due to the women hockey team not qualifying. Out of 117 athletes from India, 47 are women in Paris. That means 40% of the Indian team is women.
- 54 female athletes from the country participated in the Rio Olympics (2016). India participated in 17 Olympics from 1900 to 1988, the bad thing is that even in all the 17 Olympics, only 44 female players from the country could play the tournament.
Graphics: Anklesh Vishwakarma, Sandeep Pal, Kunal Sharma
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