The Best of Sports: Women on the US Team

It always baffles me how the Olympic Games seem to be the venue for all things “new.” Despite its history and tradition, the Games always seem to be the place for new superstars to emerge, new technology to be unveiled, and new records to be made. Even when the feats of humanity seem like they cannot be surpassed, the Olympics always brings out what was once thought impossible.

This year is no different.

Old records have fallen, the swimsuits are in a new fashion, and there are new athletes stealing our hearts. But something perhaps more subtle, but certainly no less significant has happened this year: the US, for the first time, has more females than males representing our country (269 women, 261 men). To a young audience, this news might seem of little significance, but consider that the last time London held the Olympics in 1948, women made up 9% of all participants, and as recent as 1996, 26 countries were not sending women to the Games.

Just like breaking a record on the track or in the pool, there is no better stage to break this record than on the grandest of them all: the Olympics. Sending a balanced contingent of men and women to the premiere sporting event in the world says that as a country, we have committed ourselves over decades to the advancement of gender equality in sports, and we are proud to show the world of that achievement. Although it might seem as simple as just picking a fair number, it is a reflection of a commitment to a core value that our country is built on: equal opportunity. It’s a value that we have long stood for, but not always exemplified. This year we celebrate 40 years of the Title IX, and we have taken to heart the many heroes and accomplishments that have emerge in these decades, all while recognizing that there is still ground to be covered in our quest for equal opportunity. And this achievement is yet another important milestone on that journey.

As gradual as the change that Title IX has inspired has been, we can lose sight of the magnitude of this year’s gender balance. Especially in recent Olympics, female athletes have always been on the eyes and in the hearts of Americans, whether they are on the balance beam or flying down the ski slopes (in fact it seems the only time of year that female athletes do get equal attention!).  But it is truly amazing to think that young girls around the country and around the globe watching the parade of Americans during the opening ceremony could see something that their mothers and grandmothers would not have been able to see when they were young: themselves.