The flag bearer for Afghanistan during the opening ceremony at the Athens Olympics will be a woman 18.02.2004 RUSSELS, Belgium - A record 44 percent of athletes at the Athens Olympics will be women, and the IOC expects an equal number of men and women to compete in the games within a decade. IOC president Jacques Rogge detailed the increased participation by female athletes in the Olympics to a Belgian senate committee Tuesday. He also looked ahead to when the same percentage of men and women compete in the games. "At that stage, we have to start preoccupying ourselves with the place of men in the Olympics," he said, joking. There was 21 percent participation by female athletes at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and that number increased to 38.2 percent at the 2000 Sydney Games. Rogge said the flag bearer for Afghanistan during the opening ceremony in Athens this summer will be a woman. Only four years ago, Afghanistan was banned from the Sydney Games because the Taliban regime outlawed women from competing in sports. The number of nations without female competitors is also declining, he said. Eight years ago in Atlanta, there were 26 all-male delegations. That number dropped to nine in Sydney. Rogge expects "no more than four or five" in Athens. Statistically, Afghanistan is a stunning turnaround. After the Taliban were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001, it made a gradual return to the world of sports, highlighted by sending Lima Azimi to participate in the 100 meters at the world championships in Paris in August. Wearing long baggy pants and unsure how to use the starting blocks, Azimi finished last, but she made a point for her country, where many women still wear chador or burqua coverings. Now, three of the 10 competitors in the Afghan team will be women, all runners. While Rogge highlighted continuing problems for women in sports in countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, he lauded progress made in Arab nations such as Qatar and Kuwait. "We make progress step by step," he said. While political and religious reasons often capture the headlines, Rogge insisted the lack of economic development most often stood in the way of more emancipation. Even though the modern Olympics started in 1896, the first women weren't allowed in the games until 1912. << | >> |
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