The announced parity Olympic Games will also affect the Portuguese mission, in which for the first time in history, among the 73 athletes who will represent the country in Paris in 2024, there will be more women than men.
A nation of “liberty, equality and fraternity”, France has made parity one of the flags of these Olympic Games, the third that it will organize in Paris. This objective was proposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and also supported by the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP), which in the program contract signed with the government set the goal of “challenging the number of medals on a fair basis in terms of gender”.
By representing the highest number of women in Tokyo 2020 history – 36 (in a delegation of 92 athletes, representing 39.1% representation), Portugal has taken a step forward as they will be in the majority at these Games.
37 out of 73, or 50.7% of the Mission, also participate in more competitions: 33 versus 28, in a list that also includes six mixed competitions.
“This is an occasion to satisfy the objective that we set out to achieve and which is in the interests of the International Olympic Committee,” stressed the president of the CS, José Manuel Constantino, in an interview with the Lusa agency. The head of the mission, Marco Alves, called these historic percentages “a victory.”
The Portuguese delegation, led by flag bearer Ana Cabesinha, a marcher who is making her fifth Olympic appearance, as well as canoeist Teresa Portela and table tennis players Marcos Freitas and Thiago Apolonia, has a majority of women in athletics (13 out of 22) and judo (five out of seven), as well as unique representatives in breaking (Vanessa Marina), surfing (Yolanda Hopkins and Teresa Bonvalot) and hunting rifle shooting (Maria Ines Barros).
In addition to the equal composition of the Portuguese delegation to Paris 2024, which has received praise from civil society, namely the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, the percentages tell other stories, such as the newcomers (50.7%), who are also in the majority.
37 athletes will be realizing their dream of participating in the Olympic Games for the first time, like young gymnast Gabriel Albuquerque, who at 18 is the youngest in the Mission, whose average age is 28.8. In Tokyo2020 it was 29.5.
On the other side is 45-year-old table tennis player Fu Yu, one of three athletes over 40 and one of 10 naturalised athletes making up Portugal’s Olympic delegation, along with Agathe de Souza, who won bronze in the Olympic long jump. The Europeans are the latest to join the group.
The Portuguese delegation in the French capital, which will compete in 15 sports, includes three Olympic medalists, namely from Tokyo 2020 (Patricia Mamona is absent, injured), as well as triple jump champion Pedro Pichardo, judoka Jorge Fonseca and canoeist Fernando. Pimenta, who is aiming to become the first to win three medals, is the biggest achievement of this mission, the shortest since Sydney 2000, which involved 64 Portuguese.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will begin on Friday with the Opening Ceremony on the River Seine and will end on August 11.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.