Games boast equal gender participation for first time

Grace Luczak had left competitive rowing and taken a job in the private sector when a move toward gender equity at the Tokyo Games lured her back into a boat.

A women's rowing event was added to create a more inclusive Olympics, which meant four additional seats on the U.S. team and a spot for Luczak.

“It's really hard to make the decision to come back, to plan financially to be out of work for a year,” Luczak said.

She thought a second consecutive Games wasn't possible for a veteran until the seats were added.

“There are four more seats. Four. And it's the first gender-equal Olympics. How can you not tr y?”

Most of the public attention goes to the big sports — gymnastics, swimming, track and field — but away from the spotlight, women from niche sports are being recognized and given an Olympics chance.

The International Olympic Committee added 18 new events to the Tokyo Games in a push toward gender equity. There are an equal number of women and men for every sport, excluding baseball and softball because of differing roster sizes.

The IOC said women's participation in Tokyo will be 49%, up from 45% at Rio, a nearly even split with the men. The committee also noted that when women made their Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 1900, there were only 22 females out of 997 total athletes. Those pioneers competed across five sports, among them croquet and equestrian.

“Tokyo 2020 is predicted to be the most gender equal yet with female participation,” the IOC said.

The new opportunities come in several sports and several sizes: Great Britain, for example, is sending more women than men to the Olympics for the first time.

Gains for women in many cases meant fewer opportunities for men.

Luczak, now 32, knows she benefited at the expense of male teammates. The women's coxless four returns to competition for the first time since 1992, but it replaces the men's lightweight coxless four.

“It's not great when you have to take something away from the men's side to add to the women's. It's never fun seeing people find out their opportunity is gone,” Luczak said. “But in creating an equal number of opportunities, it shows there is a pathway for female athletes.”

Carl Court / Getty Images Olympic branding is displayed on Tokyo Olympic stadium on Wednesday in Tokyo. With just two days until the Olympics opening ceremony, Toshiro Muto, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee has stated that he will not rule out cancellation of the Games as more than seventy people associated with the event have already tested positive for coronavirus.