From 1976 to 2028: Witnessing the Evolution of Women's Sports at the Olympic Games

From 1976 to 2028: Witnessing the Evolution of Women's Sports at the Olympic Games

​I still remember the feeling of stepping onto the water in Montreal in 1976. I was 23 years old, a law student with calloused hands and a dream that, just four years earlier, wouldn't have been possible in quite the same way. Title IX had passed in 1972; women's rowing wouldn't become an Olympic sport until that very year. The timing of my athletic career intersected with a legal revolution, though we didn't fully understand the scope of what was beginning.

Today, as we approach the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, I find myself reflecting on what has changed and what that change actually cost in terms of time, advocacy, and stubborn persistence.
​
For the first time in Olympic history, LA 2028 will feature more female athletes than male athletes. Every team sport will have equal or greater numbers of women's teams compared to men's. When I read those sentences, I have to pause. Not because the milestone isn't significant, but because of how long it has taken to get here.

The Early Years: Policy Without Infrastructure
Title IX gave us legal standing, but laws on paper don't build boathouses or fund coaching positions. In the mid-1970s, we were fighting for access to training facilities, for equal practice times, for the basic recognition that women's athletic programs deserved institutional support. The law said we had rights; reality said we had to prove we were worth the investment.

I've spent nearly four decades as a member of the International Olympic Committee, including 17 years on the Executive Board. Much of that work centered on a simple principle: if women aren't in the room when decisions are made, those decisions will continue to overlook women's needs. Representation in governance isn't a symbolic gesture. It's how policy becomes practice.

When I was elected the first woman Vice President of the IOC, people asked what it meant. Here's what it meant: women athletes finally had someone at the executive level who understood, from lived experience, what it takes to train, compete, and advocate for yourself when the systems aren't built with you in mind.

Governance as the Architecture of Change
The shift from 1976 to 2028 didn't happen through goodwill alone. It happened through specific governance decisions: adding women's events to the Olympic program, enforcing gender equity requirements for National Olympic Committees, creating athlete commissions that gave competitors a voice in the policies that governed their sports.

These sound like administrative details. They are administrative details. But administrative details are where progress either takes root or dies on the vine.

When we worked to bring the Games back to Los Angeles, sustainability and fiscal responsibility were part of the pitch. So was equity. LA 2028's commitment to gender parity in team sports didn't happen by accident; it was negotiated, planned, and built into the framework from the beginning. That's what governance does when it's done with intention.

The Larger Context: Sports as a Mirror
The evolution of women's sports at the Olympic Games reflects broader societal shifts, but it also drives them. When young people see women competing at the highest levels, when they see female athletes celebrated and compensated, when they witness women in leadership positions within sports organizations, it changes what they believe is possible for themselves.

I've seen this firsthand through my work with the LA84 Foundation, which distributed more than $250 million to youth sports organizations over the years I served as president. The organizations that thrived were the ones that understood: access creates opportunity, and opportunity creates the next generation of leaders.

But access alone isn't enough if the pathway remains prohibitively narrow. Rowing, the sport that gave me so much, still struggles with its reputation as exclusive and expensive. That's why I continue to say that rowing belongs to everyone, and we need everyone to take part. The same principle applies across all sports. Infrastructure, coaching, equipment, visibility: these are the building blocks that determine who gets to compete and who gets left out.

What 2028 Represents
LA 2028 will be historic not just for the numbers, but for what those numbers represent. More female athletes means more events, more media coverage, more pathways for girls who are watching and dreaming about their own Olympic moments.

It also means we've reached a point where gender equity in sports is no longer a radical demand. It's an expectation. That shift in framing matters enormously.

Still, I'm cautious about declaring victory. The fact that we're celebrating "more female than male athletes" in 2028 tells you how recently the reverse was considered normal and unremarkable. The fact that it has taken this long tells you how entrenched resistance to change can be, even when the moral case is clear and the legal framework exists.

Looking Forward
I'll be honest: when I competed in 1976, I didn't imagine I'd spend the next five decades working on these issues. I thought the trajectory would be faster. I thought once the door opened, it would stay open.

What I've learned is that doors don't stay open on their own. Every generation has to walk through and then turn around and hold the door for the people coming behind them. That's the work.

LA 2028 represents progress, absolutely. But progress is a process, not a destination. The question isn't just "How many female athletes will compete?" The question is: What happens after the closing ceremony? How do we convert Olympic visibility into sustained investment in women's sports at every level? How do we ensure that the girls watching in 2028 have access to the coaching, facilities, and opportunities they need to become the Olympians of 2040?

Those are governance questions. They're infrastructure questions. They're questions about who holds power and how that power is used to build systems that serve everyone, not just the people who've always had access.

Fifty-two years from Montreal to Los Angeles. From fighting for a spot on the water to helping shape the future of the Games. I'm grateful for the progress we've made, and I'm clear-eyed about the work that remains.

The arena is bigger now. Let's make sure everyone can find their way in.

- Anita, November 2025