Are the Olympics up-to-date? Measures taken by the IOC to enhance gender equality in the Games

Abstract

Olympism emerges as an instrument of integration that, through the Olympic values, overcomes ethnic, religious, and cultural differences in favor of a world free of discrimination, ensuring the practice of sports as a right for all. Having equality as one of its principles is foreseen in the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Agenda 2020+5, just as it is consistent with the global movement for gender equality, as proposed in Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the United Nations' Agenda 2030. This study aims to identify the actions taken by the IOC for gender equality related to all women, athletes or non-athletes, who are part of the Olympic Games scenario. This study is documentary research, using the official documents published on the IOC website related to gender equality as a primary source of data. Through Thematic Analysis as a method of data analysis, we achieved a qualitative understanding of the documents to measure the main actions adopted by the body in favor of gender equality in the Olympic Games. As a result of this study, we seek a greater understanding of this relevant theme in the discussion of gender equality in the sports context, with a specific look at one of the main events in the area, which involves a range of sports and has tremendous impact, reaching international visibility.