Women outnumber men on Australian Olympic team

When the Rio Olympic Games commence next week the Australian Olympic Team will be consist of more women than men for the first time at a Summer Olympic Games

Today’s addition of a women’s eight rowing crew – following the ongoing Russian doping crisis – has swelled the Australian team to 419 athletes – 212 women and 207 men.

Australia reached gender parity for the first time at the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010 with 31 women and 29 men.

The skew for NSWIS athletes is slightly more towards men, with 36 women and 45 men set to don the Green and Gold in Rio.

All of this at a time when the experienced Fiona de Jong is the Australian Olympic Committee’s first Chief Executive Officer and Sydney 2000 Olympian Kitty Chiller is Australia’s first female Chef de Mission.

Chiller said this historic achievement for a summer Team sends a strong message about women’s sport in Australia. 

“It’s a very strong statement it shows that women’s sport is genuine sport. It is elite competition just as much as the male has been over time. It’s about time that the female athletes were given the credit and the recognition and the accolades that they so richly deserve.”

NSWIS athlete and canoe kayak London silver medallist Jessica Fox was excited by the prospect of being joined by so many females in the Australian team.

“Women’s sport in Australia is really taking off and females athletes have really had more recognition in the last couple of years I think it’s really growing

“To see all the female athletes who will be here in Rio going for gold, going to represent their country the best they can and proud to be at the Olympics and obviously we are all here to do our best and I know we are going to be great role models,” Fox said.

The Team of 419 will be the 5^th largest Australian team at an Olympic Games behind Sydney (632), Athens (482), Beijing (435), and Atlanta (424).

Recent Summer Games

Rio – 50.6% female                                                              
London – 45.4% female  
Beijing – 45.9% female
Athens – 43.2% female
Sydney – 44.8% female