LA 2024 bid leaders draw inspiration from 2016 IOC Women in Sport Awards and pledge excellence, equality and opportunity for the world's female athletes

Bid committee reaffirms commitment to support IOC's visionary Women in Sport objectives by building on US female Olympians and Paralympians’ Rio 2016 successes

LOS ANGELES - IOC Executive Board Member and LA 2024 Senior Advisor for Legacy Anita DeFrantz and IOC Executive Board Member, Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission and LA 2024 Chief Strategy Officer Angela Ruggiero today attended the 2016 IOC Women in Sport Awards, joining the celebration of the trailblazers honored for their tireless work to promote gender equality in sport. The United States Olympic family's most senior female sports leaders pledged to ensure that LA 2024 furthers the IOC’s Women in Sport objectives, citing the remarkable performances of Team USA’s female athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games as evidence that an American Games in 2024 can provide an unprecedented platform for female athletes from around the world to achieve their goals, in sport and in life.

On Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC awarded the Women and Sport World Trophy to Dagim Zinabu Tekle, an Ethiopian sports reporter who founded the Lisan Women's Sport radio program that promotes women and girls participation in sports. Continental trophies were awarded to: Moya Dodd of Australia, Maria Leonor Estampador of the Philippines, Majken Maria Gilmartin of Denmark, Carole Oglesby of the USA and Felicite Rwemarika, of Rwanda. Visit https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-awards-2016-women-and-sport-trophies for more information on the Awards.

IOC Executive Member and LA 2024 Senior Advisor for Legacy Anita DeFrantz said: "On behalf of LA 2024, I would like to congratulate all of those who received awards tonight for their pioneering work in advancing equality in sport. Of course we are proud of Team USA’s woman Olympians and Paralympians, but what is even more encouraging is that US women are part of a growing trend driven by the work of the IOC. The progress we have seen in recent years is tremendous; now we believe that LA 2024 can be the Olympic Movement’s best partner for continuing this vital process of transformation. For us, equality is not just a case of evening up the numbers: it is about respect, opportunity and aspiration. The United States has had and will continue to have a big role to play worldwide in supporting the rights of women in sport and in society."

IOC Executive Board Member, Chair of the IOC Athletes Commission and LA 2024 Chief Strategy Officer Angela Ruggiero said: "LA 2024 regards the promotion of equality in and through sport as a strategic priority for the Games and the Olympic Movement. LA 2024 is committed to getting America’s 50 million girls and young women enthusiastic about and participating in sport and the Olympic Movement. And we can help the Olympic Movement replicate that impact worldwide, because LA is a city that speaks to the world’s youth every day."

LA 2024 is developing strategies to support the IOC’s visionary Women in Sport policy, which increased female participation to over 45 percent of the 11,303 athletes at Rio 2016, with 51 National Olympic Committees featuring more women than men in their delegations. The bid committee will look to build on the trend which has seen Team USA’s female athletes outnumber and out-medal their male teammates for the second straight Games and ensure that every female athlete has the opportunity to thrive and achieve their full potential in Los Angeles in 2024. America’s female Olympians won an unprecedented 61 medals, including 27 gold medals, more than half of Team USA’s total of 121. Female Paralympians took home a total of 70 medals, including 24 gold, well over half of Team USA’s total of 115.

The driving force behind this priority goal for LA 2024 will be the senior female sports and community leaders with a prominent role on the Candidature Committee: Olympian Anita DeFrantz, IOC Executive Board Member, the first ever female IOC Vice President from 1997-2001, Chair of the IOC Women in Sport Commission from 1994 to 2013, and Honorary Member of the IOC Women in Sport Commission, is LA 2024’s Senior Advisor for Legacy; newly elected IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair, IOC Executive Board Member and Olympic Champion Angela Ruggiero is LA 2024 Chief Strategy Officer; and Olympic Champion Janet Evans is LA 2024’s Vice Chair and Director of Athlete Relations. 9-time Paralympian Candace Cable is also an LA 2024 Vice Chair, as is influential labor union leader Maria Elena Durazo.

The underpinning of LA 2024's work is Title IX, the landmark legislation enshrining gender equality in American higher education. Title IX was enacted in the United States on Olympic Day in 1972 and guarantees – among other things – equal funding for women’s and men’s high school and university sport. The pioneering legislation has seen the number of girls participating in sport grow from 295,000 in 1971, 7 percent of the total, to 2.8 million, accounting for 41.5 percent today. The number of female athletes competing at college level has increased seven-fold since Title IX's enactment. 85 percent of Team USA’s medalists in Rio competed in NCAA collegiate sport.

Despite the transformation from Title IX and other initiatives in the US, there remain a number of gender disparities in US sport which LA 2024 is determined to address: women’s sport continues to receive just 4 percent of US sports media coverage, and between 2003 and 2010 female Americans aged 15 and over comprised just 28 percent of participants in individual sports and 20 percent in team sports.

LA 2024 Vice Chair and Director of Athlete Relations Janet Evans said: "I watched the first generation of female Olympians to benefit from the groundbreaking Title IX gender equality legislation compete at the 1984 Olympic Games in LA. Their performances inspired me to become an Olympian. Title IX is a symbolic acknowledgment of a woman’s right to fair and equal treatment in every aspect of life. It has had a profound impact on my life, and on the lives of millions of others of American women."

"Our mission at LA 2024 is to equip women from across the Olympic and Paralympic Movement to fulfill their potential in every respect. LA 2024 will provide female athletes with the unprecedented access to training facilities, outstanding fields of play and rest and recovery services they need to excel. And their incredible performances will inspire the next generation of young women around the world to believe that anything is possible."

For more information visit LA24.org.

LA 2024 can also be found on the following social media channels:

Twitter.com/LA2024

Facebook.com/LA2024

Instagram.com/LA2024

YouTube.com/LA2024

Snapchat.com/add/la2024

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