While the Olympics do not have a great track record when it comes to gender parity, this year things are different. The Tokyo 2020 games will be the first gender-balanced event in history.
As per the International Olympic Committee, this year's Summer Games features more female athletes. Women participants make up 49% of the total athletes which is 4% more than that at the Rio Olympics.
India too, will send its biggest-ever women contingent to the Games. The number of female athletes going for the Olympics from India, has consistently increased since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where only 19 Indian female athletes participated. The Rio Olympics had 54 Indian women athletes. For 2020, India has fielded 56 female athletes across different events.
Also watch: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Mary Kom aiming for gold in her last hurrah
Women athletes made their Olympics debut in 1900 in Paris, that year, only 22 women had participated in a total of 997 athletes. But we have come a long way since that.