There have been tons of moments to recollect from Paris 2024, however one factor that caught out to us? Girls athletes have been doing a little actually superb issues at these Video games. Working example: Out of the 126 complete Olympic medals received by Workforce USA athletes, greater than half of them—67—have been earned by feminine athletes. In truth, that quantity would have positioned them third amongst all international locations within the medal desk.
What’s extra, Workforce USA, the most important workforce to compete, despatched extra girls than males to the Olympics for the fourth consecutive Video games (315 girls in comparison with 279), based on Census.gov.
And it wasn’t simply with Workforce USA athletes, both. Main as much as this yr’s Video games, the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) made a concerted effort to attain gender parity by rising the variety of gender-equal and mixed-gender occasions (together with combined relays in observe and swimming). Based on the IOC, this yr marked the primary video games with equal numbers of female and male contributors.
Tons of of feminine athletes from world wide confirmed gorgeous pace, energy, ability, and extra on the world stage. Listed below are simply 10 of the methods girls made historical past on the Paris Video games.
1. Lauren Scruggs turns into the primary Black American medalist in girls’s particular person fencing.
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Workforce USA’s Lauren Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard pupil, broke boundaries with a silver-medal end in particular person foil in Paris. “Rising up in fencing, nobody actually appeared like me,” she stated in an interview with ABC Information. “My success has helped break stereotypes about what Black folks can do and who could be a fencer.” Scruggs additionally teaches fencing to underrepresented children by the Peter Westbrook Basis and stated, “I am not simply fencing for myself, however I am fencing for the children again dwelling too.”
