Gold Coast makes history, offers equal medals for women, men

Of the 275 sets of medals on offer, 133 each will be presented to men and women, while the remaining nine have been reserved for mixed events.

The Commonwealth Games Foundation (CGF) CEO, David Grevemberg, sees this as "the beginning of a major shift."

The XXI Commonwealth Games starting on Wednesday will be the maiden instance when an equal number of medals will be awarded to both men and women in the history of a multi-discipline sports event.

Of the 275 sets of medals on offer, 133 each will be presented to men and women, while the remaining nine have been reserved for mixed events. The Commonwealth Games Foundation (CGF) CEO, David Grevemberg, sees this as "the beginning of a major shift."

 

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“Gender equality is at the forefront of our work we have been doing to shift the dial. When you consider the opening Games in Hamilton in 1930 where women took part in just seven events, that in turn constituted only 12 per cent of the total medals which were given away, we indeed have come a long way.

"In Glasgow, four years ago, we had women athletes participating in 48.5 per cent of the total events. We have continued to move forward since then and it is truly a remarkable achievement of which we are all very proud of”, Grevemberg said before adding that a similar step would also to be made to bring in an equal number of technical officials in the future.