Fifty three percent events in Beijing 2022 feature women: IOC spokesman

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing 2022 Winter Games featured its 53% events with women, compared with 46% in PyeongChang, IOC spokesman Mark Adams commented on the efforts to push gender equality and appearance in the Games at the IOC daily briefing here on Monday.

"We have 53% of events in Beijing, compared with 46% in PyeongChang, that will feature women. We are doing a lot of detailed things to really push gender equality and appearance in the program. For example, the first medal event in ski jump was a women's competition on day one and that provided some iconic images," Adams said.

Adams called gender equality at the Olympic Games "a strategic priority".

"The Olympic Games is a great platform for promoting gender equality around the world. We are working closely with international federations, National Olympic Committees, broadcasters and our own OBS," he said.

Adams pointed out that the IOC set a goal of 50% female participation, with exactly 5,250 men and 5,250 women taking part in Paris 2024.

Yang Yang, BOCOG Athletes' Commission chair, also stressed the importance of female athletes at the Games can inspire others, and the importance of having women in key organizational roles: "We hope that we can encourage them to perform better and that more women can push their own limits further."

The OBS chief executive officer Yiannis Exarchos believed they have made significant steps forward on the coverage of women's sport, both in terms of the volume and how it is distributed across the schedule of the Games.

"Being responsible for the broadcasting of the Games, the portrayal guidelines is how to avoid stereotyping, how to ensure we cover men and women on the same basis, which is about portraying their sporting prowess.

"In terms of news on Olympics.com, 37.1% of the content relates to female athletes, 30.1% relates to mixed stories, and 32.5% has to do with male stories," said Exarchos. ■