The IOC has repeated it tirelessly: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were the first in history to respect gender parity in participation. But a study shows that media coverage of the event has not followed the same evolution. Female athletes still remain at a distance from their male counterparts. The research, content and creation agency Redtorch reports that only 43% of press articles dedicated to competitors during the Paris 2024 Games concerned women, compared to 57% for male athletes. But, conversely, content published on social networks by female athletes totaled 53% of total engagement on TikTok and Instagram, surpassing that created by men (47%). Conclusion: women are less interesting to the media than men, but they are more followed by the public, or at least are " connect more effectively with their audiences” on social media. Another finding from the Redtorch survey was that the gap between women’s and men’s coverage was most pronounced among broadcasters, with only 39% of Paris 2024 coverage featuring women competitors, compared to 61% for men. The same imbalance was evident in the content and coverage produced by international federations and sponsors, which favored male athletes in 59% and 58% of stories, respectively.
