The Olympic Games in Tokyo have already been named ‘the most gender-equal Olympics in history’ with almost half of the athletes competing being women. Compare it to the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896 in Athens, where there wasn’t a single female athlete present! Here are the youngest, the oldest and the bravest female athletes making waves at this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
Mary Hanna
66-year-old Australian equestrian Mary Hanna is the oldest athlete to compete at Tokyo Olympics 2020. It’s her sixth time at the Olympic Games! Her journey started in 1996 in Atlanta, USA. Then she competed in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
Hend Zaza
The fact that this Syrian table tennis star comes from a country involved in a civil war but is still focused on competing and winning already deserves tremendous respect. She has had to endure incessant power cuts during training, struggled to find paddles and balls and has had to train on a concrete floor and worn tables.
But Hend Zaza is also well-known for being the youngest athlete at this year’s Games, as well as the youngest ever Olympian since the 1968 Winter Olympics. Hend is only 12 years old! In the preliminary round of the women’s singles, Hend Zaza had to compete against 39-year-old Liu Jia from Austria, who has a 10-year-old daughter!
Momiji Nishiya
Japanese Momiji Nishiya made history not only for participating in the first ever skateboarding competition at the Olympic Games but also for becoming the youngest ever gold medalist! Momiji found herself on the top step of the podium at only 13 years old! And the person winning the silver medal in the same discipline? Rayssa Leal from Brazil, who is also only 13!
Laurel Hubbard
Our very own Laurel Hubbard became the first ever transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics. The 43-year-old Kiwi weightlifter will be participating in the +87 kilos category – the highest female weight classification.
Hidilyn Diaz
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the first-ever gold medal for the Philippines! The 13th biggest country in the world with a population of just under 110 million has been competing at The Olympics since 1924 and has, to date, won both silver and bronze medals. Tokyo is Hidilyn’s fourth Olympic Games and this time she’ll be bringing home the country’s first Olympic gold medal!
German gymnasts
Germany’s female gymnasts made the decision to compete in body-covering unitards instead of traditional, rather revealing, leotards. These outfits were meant to combat sexualisation in gymnastics. “We wanted to show that every woman, everybody, should decide what to wear,” said one of the athletes, Elisabeth Seitz.
“We women all want to feel good in our skin,” said Sarah Voss to BBC. “In the sport of gymnastics it gets harder and harder as you grow out of your child’s body. As a little girl I didn’t see the tight gym outfits as such a big deal. But when puberty began, when my period came, I began feeling increasingly uncomfortable.”