Olympics reach gender equality among athletes for the first time, spurring Canadian calls for more progress

Canada's Kate O'Brien celebrates after the women's sprint quarterfinals track cycling competition at the Pan Am Games in Milton, Ontario, Saturday, July 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

As the Olympics celebrate reaching gender parity among athletes for the first time in the Games’ history, Canadian leaders in women’s sport are pushing for further progress.

During the opening ceremony in Paris Friday, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach highlighted the milestone achievement of reaching a 50-50 split between male and female athletes.

Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CEO of Canadian Women and Sport, emphasized that the Olympics still have a long way to go when it comes to reaching full gender equity.

“There’s coaches and support staff, things like the quality of quantity of media coverage, which events are broadcast in prime time spots—there’s so many layers,” Sandmeyer-Graves told CTV News.

She acknowledged that the Olympics set out to achieve the goal of gender equality among athletes, and that reaching this milestone started with a commitment and an intention.

“I think it speaks to the values of the Olympics movement and it's something we hope will be extended to other forms of participation and leadership moving forward.”

MORE MEDIA COVERAGE & FEMALE COACHES NEEDED

She’s pushing for equal media coverage, highlighting data showing only four per cent goes towards women’s sports in general.

“[Women] are all but visible outside the Olympic years so these moments are actually critically important and unfortunately far too rare –but that’s why they can be especially powerful.”

Sandmeyer-Graves believes more girls and women will be encouraged to try out sports if they’re exposed to various activities and body types more often.

“They’re going to be inspired by rugby, swimming, long-distance running—they’re really going to consume it all and you never know what the thing is that’s going to light a fire within them,” she said. “So that’s why diversity at the Olympics—with all the different body types and abilities and skin colours and backgrounds—it’s such a wonderful thing.”

Behind the scenes, Sandmeyer-Graves has seen measurable progress in the number of women sitting on boards of Canadian sport federations.

“That’s a big part of the solution—having more women at those decision making tables, deciding on hiring, investments, setting policies and building strategies.”

However, Canada still has a long way to go when it comes to reaching gender equality in the coaching world.

“Over the past few Olympic cycles, the number of women going as Canadian coaches has been ranging between 13 and 18 per cent,” said Sandmeyer-Graves. “This speaks to the fact that competitive coaching is still substantially male dominated.”

CTV News reached out to the Canadian Olympic Committee to confirm how many female coaches are representing the country at the Paris Games and will update this article if a response is received.

PUSHING FOR PARENTAL LEAVE

Canadian paracyclist Kate O’Brien wants to help more female athletes get into the world of parasports.

She’s uniquely positioned to do so, having represented Canada as an able-bodied athlete in the 2016 Rio Games before suffering a traumatic brain injury the following year.

“The semi bright side was that it allowed me to get into parasport,” O’Brien told CTV News from her home in Vancouver.

“Para is a bit less known of an area and there are just significantly fewer avenues for women to kind of understand how to get into parasports, so that’s another thing that would be great to cross off the list of how to make sport available to everyone,” she said.

For any girl or woman who is curious about a sport—para or otherwise—O’Brien recommends that they reach out to coaches or athletes they admire.

“Just find a name on a website and send them an email,” she said. “Traditionally, I have just said ‘I’m not sure if you’re the right person, but I’m really interested in this and can you help me or direct me to the person who can help me?’ That’s been very, very useful.”

The 2024 Paralympics will be O’Brien’s third time representing Canada, following her debut in 2016 and her silver medal performance at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

This year, she’s excited that the Paris Games will feature a parental room, and notes Canada’s lack of parental leave or allowances for athletes may also deter women from entering elite sport.

“I have a baby, but that absolutely does not change who I am as an athlete,” she said. “Not having parental or allowances so athletes can spend time with their family while still doing sport is extremely unusual and not permitted in other work environments.”

Sandmeyer-Graves says in many way, Canada is seen as a world leader when it comes to gender equality in sports, and is urging leaders to keep up the work.

“We have a lot to be proud of, but we can’t rest on our laurels,” she said.