This summer's Olympic Games in Paris are the first in its 128-year history to reach gender parity among athletes, with an equal split between male and female sports on the prime-time spots of the official Olympics broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). On the back of Day One, OBS has updated its guidelines for all camera operators reaffirming the need to eradicate "stereotypes and sexism" by providing equal coverage across Olympic events.

"Unfortunately, in some events, they (women) are still being filmed in a way that you can identify that stereotypes and sexism remain, even from the way in which some camera operators are framing differently men and women athletes," said chief executive Yiannis Exarchos. "Women athletes are not there because they are more attractive or sexy or whatever. They are there because they are elite athletes."

According to Exarchos, the problem is mainly down to "unconscious bias" and some camera operators, along with TV editors, have a tendency to show more close-up shots of female athletes than male athletes. There have been intentional scheduling changes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in order to boost women's sport including the women's marathon now the final event of the summer instead of the men's marathon.

"Traditionally, in team sports, you have first women's finals, and then the men's final... In strength and combat sports, traditionally you have women's competitions in the morning and men's competitions in the afternoon," said OBS CEO Exarchos.

For Marie Sallois, Corporate and Sustainable Development Director on the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic Games are "de facto the world's largest platform to promote gender equality in and through sport."

She pointed to an array of "symbolic moments" during Friday's unprecedented Opening Ceremony with almost all delegations having a man and a woman flag carrier but also an emphasis on how influential women have been in French history.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have reached gender parity this year with 50/50 male-female participation. One hundred years ago back in 1924 when Paris last hosted the Olympic Games, just 135 of the nearly 3,100 athletes were female making female participation just 4.4%. 

According to data from the International Olympic Committee, the last Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 registered a 48% involvement of women athletes, a statistic which has risen even further at this summer's Olympic Games bringing it to complete parity in the field of play.