One hundred and eight years after women first competed in the Olympic Games, historic strides still being made by the world's top female athletes
By Lindsay Hock
Published: September 2, 2008
The Chinese wanted to use the Olympic Games as a way to establish themselves as a worthy host for the world's athletic stage. With multi-million-dollar competition venues and breathtaking opening and closing ceremonies, most observers would agree that, despite continued human rights questions, the Chinese put on quite a show. And while much attention was focused on Michael Phelps' record-breaking performance, it was a banner year for the world's top female athletes.
The Numbers 
A total of 4,746 females competed in 302 medal events associated with 28 sports at the 2008 Olympic Games. Of those, 165 medal events are open to men, 127 to women and 10 to both genders (badminton, equestrian and sailing.) According to the International Olympic Committee, Women represented between 42- 45 percent of the total athlete delegation in Beijing, up from 41 percent in Athens, where 4,306 female athletes made up the pool of 10,568 athletes.
A total of 41 world records were broken at these Olympic Games -- 19 of them by women. Of those 19 records, 11 of them were set in the pool at The Water Cube, which was expected to see some of the fastest times ever. The United States won the overall medal count with 110 total medals, with women athletes winning 53 percent of the total number of medals.
The Individuals The real stories of women's historic participation at these Games are most vividly seen through heroic individual performances. For the American squad the story that captured everyone's attention was that of Dara Torres. The 41-year old became the first swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games while winning silver medals in the 50-meter freestyle, the 4x100-meter freestyle relay and the 4x100-meter medley relay. Her teammate, Natalie Coughlin, accomplished similar feats. She won six medals, more than any other American woman in a single Olympic Games.
Gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson lived up to their pre-Olympic hype, going 1-2 respectively in the women’s all-around competition and leading their American teammates to silver in the team final behind the powerful and controversial Chinese team. Both also fared well in individual events. Johnson claimed gold on the balance beam and silver in the floor exercise final; Liukin claimed silver on the uneven bars and the balance beam, and bronze in the floor exercise.
The Teams Several American team favorites continued their Olympic winning streaks in Beijing. The dynamic beach volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh repeated as Olympic champs while extending their unbeaten streak to 108 matches. The U.S. women’s basketball team claimed their fourth consecutive gold medal, beating Australia in the final game 92-65. The win marked the third successive time the United States has beaten Australia in the Olympic final and the fourth straight gold medal performance. In another fourth straight gold win, the 4x400-meter relay team of Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix, Monique Henderson and Mary Wineberg grabbed the gold when Richards ran down Russia in the final stretch of the race.
As in every Olympic Games, Beijing saw its share of unbelievable upsets and underdog outcomes. In a true David-vs.-Goliath final, the U.S. women's soccer team defeated Brazil with a goal by Carli Lloyd in the sixth minute of overtime. Their third gold medal since soccer was added the Olympic program in 1996, the victory was super sweet — Brazil upset the then-favorite U.S. team 4-0 in the semifinal of last year’s World Cup.
The women’s rowing team was able to beat its sport’s Goliath — the Romanians — and prevent them from winning their fourth Olympic gold. The U.S. team led from start to finish and crew members laughed and cheered in elation as they crossed the finish line in first place. The U.S. softball team was not able to experience the same feelings of delight when they lost to Japan 3-1 in the gold-medal final, and possibly last softball game, in Olympic history. It was a shocking loss for a team that had not lost since September 21, 2000 at the Olympic Games in Sydney.
The Viewers Sports viewership in the United States is typically considered a male-dominated domain. The Olympic Games seem to be the anomaly. Every four years, record numbers of women pull up in front of the television and get swept up in the excitement of the coverage. Data provided by the president for research at NBC Universal, showed that in the first week of the 2008 Olympic Games, 49 percent of the viewers of the Olympic coverage on NBC were women ages 18 and older, followed by men ages 18 and older, at 41 percent. (The rest are viewers in other demographic groups.) (NYTimes.com, August 18, 2008)
The Future
We celebrate the accomplishments of women athletes in Beijing, and know that Title IX helped cultivate the level of success in American female athletes, which in turn, has played an important role in raising the standards of achievement internationally. Progress has been made both in terms of quality of performance and participatory inclusion. Overall numbers of female participants were up in Beijing and for the first time, two female athletes from United Arab Emirates competed on the Olympic stage.
As we celebrate, we must look forward toward 2012 and the London Games. With the International Olympic Comittee's decision to cut softball from the 2012 Olympic Games, 120 fewer Olympic opportunities will be available for women. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Brunei still forbid women from participating in the Games. It's important to note that 45 percent of the athlete delegation is not representative of the 52 percent of the world's population currently comprised of women. The international community still has work to do in its continual effort to make the ultimate athletic stage truly equitable. .