The 2020 Olympics will have more mixed-gender events than ever
Female athletes will have the most opportunities to compete yet in the 2020 Olympic Games -- both with other female athletes and with male athletes.
On Friday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a program for the Tokyo Games that features 18 mixed-gender events, double the amount from the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Some of the mixed-gender events (where men and women will compete in mixed-gendered teams) will include swimming and track relays, a triathlon team relay, table tennis, judo, cycling, and fencing team events. Additionally, a number of other events have been shifted to women's or mixed, in an effort to promote more gender equality.
The Tokyo Games program now boasts the "highest gender balance ever," with women making up a predicted 48.8 percent of all athletes, and the "most women's events ever," according to the IOC.
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While women only made up 45.6 percent of all athletes in Rio, on the U.S. Olympic team they outnumbered men in both the number of athletes and the medal count.
292 women competed in Rio in 2016 compared to 263 men. Women took home 61 medals, compared to 55 from men.
The changes are aimed to attract younger viewers, with IOC President Thomas Bach saying he was happy the games would be "more youthful, more urban and include more women."
We're excited too -- can't wait for 2020!
Topics Olympics
Maggie was a Real Time News Intern in Mashable's Los Angeles office. She is originally from the suburbs of Chicago, and she is currently studying journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She previously freelanced for the Chicago Tribune, and enjoys petting dogs and drawing pictures in her spare time.
