INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

Defrantz of United States of America. 4 This Working Group became
an IOC Commission in 2004. The IOC develops and implements an
action program through this group. Additionally, this group is in
charge of the organization of World Conferences on Women and
Sports. The last one was held in Marrakech, Morocco from March 7 th
to 10 th .
Women at Olympic Games
It was at the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris, in 1900, that
women were allowed to compete for the first time in the Olympic
Games. Only 19 women participated then and competed in two sports
(tennis and golf). Since then, the number of women has increased
steadily. In the Games of the Olympiad Sidney 2000, 38.2 % of the
participants were women (4,069) They competed in 25 sports. 5
Representation of Women within the IOC. Promotion of Women
Sports Leaders.
It was in 1981 that the first two women were nominated as IOC
members. Today, there are 10. Between 1997 and 2001, Anita
DeFrantz was the IOC´s first woman Vice-President. Considering that
the number of women occupying positions of leadership inside the
Olympic Movement is limited, the IOC has set the following target for
this purpose: By 31 December 2005, the National Olympic
Committees (NOCs), International Sports Federations (IFs), and
sport bodies belonging to the Olympic Movement should establish
as a goal that at least 20% of the positions in all their decisionmaking
structures are held by women.
The IOC is aware that this process is affected by many factors. It
is slow and goes through several stages, depending on the particular
situation of each country: the political, cultural and social
environment, the statutes of the organizations, etc. A large number of
NOCs has showed its willingness to cooperate with the IOC in this
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