The past two weeks of the Olympics 2024 have captured the attention of the world, and there were countless positive stories from the female athletes that provided a sense of hope for not just women in sport, but women as a whole. We take a look at just some of those moments.

It was the olympics with the most mothers competing

Like with many careers, there is often a motherhood penalty when it comes to the success of athletes after they’ve had a child.  “It was an unwritten rule that you just didn’t have a child,” Dame Laura Kenny, Britain's most successful female Olympian told Elle UK. However, at this year’s games there was a record number of Mums competing, with the organisers putting provisions in place for athletes who are mothers, such as the nursery in the olympic village.

These were the first Games in history to achieve gender parity with an equal number of women and men competing

At the Paris 1900 Olympic Games only 22 women took part, that’s only 2.2% of total competitors. Nearly a century after women first competed we saw an equal number of men and women competing at this year’s Olympics.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won a gold medal in the women’s welterweight division, despite facing a spread of misinformation around her gender

After being at the centre of a gender-related controversy, Imane Khelif achieved her first Olympic gold medal by unanimously defeating world champion Yang Liu of China in the women’s 66kg category. “As for whether I qualify or not, whether I am a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media.I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks,” shared Imane after her victory.

Simone Biles came back better than ever after a break for her mental health

After Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s team final at the Tokyo 2020 games after she expressed the need to protect her mental wellbeing, many were eagerly anticipating her return to the Olympics in Paris. She said “a couple years ago, I didn't think I'd be back here at an Olympic Games. So competing and then walking away with four medals... I'm not mad about it. I'm pretty proud of myself."

Women showed true support for one another

Whether it was Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing down to Rebeca Andrade as she took to the podium to collect her gold medal or Brazil’s Tamires Araujo Frossard carrying her opponent off the court after being injured during a handball match, these moments of support captured the heart of all those watching.

Zhiying Zeng made her olympic debut aged 58

Zhiying Zeng thought her Olympic dream was over after she retired from the sport at 20 but after rediscovering her love for the sport during the pandemic she says “my message is if you want to do something, you have to go do it.”

Julien Alfred and Thea LaFond won the first ever medal for their countries

Julian Alfred won the women’s 100-metre finals becoming the first medallist from St Lucia. Similarly, Dominican triple jumper Thea LaFond took home the gold making it another first for her home country.