One of the biggest sports spectacles of the year—the 2024 Summer Olympics took place in Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11—in which for two weeks athletes around the world displayed skill, prowess, and sheer grit. Of the 11,215 sportspersons who participated, roughly 5503 were women, representing just under 49% of the total. The Paris Olympics is touted as the most ‘gender-equal’ so far.
But perhaps this number, like all data-based accounts, tells only part of the story. Who are these women and how did they get there? How do culture, society, geography and politics shape the trajectories of sport? These are not new questions; they surface with every major tournament in every sport, and when the subjects are marked by the female gender, they take on even greater significance.