Women Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics 2021

The Olympic Games in their modern version began in 1894 to celebrate the strength of men across the world. Women were included six years later but excluded from sports that seemingly didn’t highlight femininity like track and field. The World War in 1914, however, was a catalyst for social change as more women entered the workforce and became involved in sports.

In 1904, of the 651 athletes competing in the Olympics, just six were women. Post-war, in 1948, 65 women competed. Most notable was Dutch track and field athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen, pictured above, who was dubbed “The Flying Housewife.”

Of the 613 athletes on the U.S. Olympic Team, 329 of them are women, making the Tokyo Olympics the third consecutive Games where the women outnumber the men. The 329 female athletes Olympics roster also broke records with the most women representing a nation in a single Olympic year. And there are at least twelve moms on the U.S. Olympic Team.

The majority of moms on the U.S. Olympic Team are in track & field which may say something about how moms have to be quick on their feet, especially during those toddlerhood years. Allyson Felix, Quanera Hayes, Sally Kipyego, Gwendolyn Berry, and Aliphine Tuliamuk are all moms and track & field athletes competing at the Summer Games.

Other Olympian moms heading to Tokyo this year are Diana Taurasi (basketball), Alex Morgan (soccer), Cat Osterman (softball), Skylar Diggins-Smith (basketball), Mariel Zagunis (fencing), and Foluke Gunderson (volleyball). A few of these moms — Zagunis, Taurasi, and Felix – are also some of the most decorated members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team.

Allyson Felix, pictured above, heads to her fifth and final Olympic Games — where she’ll run the 400 and a relay — after the challenging birth of her daughter in 2018. Felix was diagnosed with preeclampsia which led to an emergency C-section at 32 weeks; her daughter was born at just 3 lbs. 7 oz and stayed in the NIC for her first month of life.

“It’s amazing how quickly your priorities change in moments like this. At that point, the only thing I cared about was that my daughter, Camryn, was OK. I didn’t care if I ever ran track again. I was just praying that she would be OK,” Felix said in a 2018 interview with ESPN.

In 2019 Felix also left her sponsor, Nike, after she spoke out against the brand’s contracts, saying they penalize track athletes for being pregnant. As a result, Nike vowed to change its pregnancy policy and protect female athletes’ pay throughout pregnancy and beyond. Both Felix and Simone Biles left Nike and are now sponsored by women’s sportswear brand, Athleta.

Suzanne P. is the mom of two young gymnast daughters. “I’m so excited to sit down with the girls this year and watch The Olympics,” she told Mom.com. “They have been following Simone Biles’ career and are obsessed with her.” Biles — a household name these days — is set to make history yet again later this month as she and the U.S. Women’s Olympics Gymnastics Team gear up for the Games.

Female athletes to watch at the Tokyo Olympics

• Professional surfing makes its Olympic debut this year and Surfer Hall of Famer, Carissa Moore, is ready to show the world what she can do.
• Gymnast Jordan Chiles will try for her very first Olympic medal in Tokyo. Chiles was the all-around winner at this years’ Winter Cup and she placed second at the Indianapolis 2021 U.S. Classic.
• American swimmer Katie Ledecky holds five Olympic medals and heads to Tokyo as Team Leader.
• Chinese-American swimmer Torri Huske broke a 9-year record coming in at 55.78 for the 100m Butterfly.
• Gymnast Simone Biles will be contending for five gold medals in Tokyo. If she does get all five, she will have achieved the title of one of the Greatest Olympians Ever.
• Great Britain’s 13-year-old Sky Brown, pictured above, qualified for her nation’s skateboarding team and will represent her country in Tokyo. She is Britain’s youngest Summer Olympian.
• Naomi Osaka, who has dual American and Japanese citizenship, relinquished her U.S. citizenship in 2019 in order to play for the Japanese tennis team at the Olympics this year. Osaka has made headlines in recent months with a commitment to her mental health and well-being over giving press interviews post-match.
• Sport climbing is another new addition to the Olympic lineup and 20-year-old Brooke Raboutou from Boulder, Colorado made history as the first U.S. climber to qualify for Tokyo.
• Brazil’s Leticia Bufoni will represent her country on the Olympic skateboarding team. Bufoni broke barriers as the first woman signed to the Nike Skateboarding team.
• Sakura Kokumai — a 4th Degree Black Belt — is the first American to qualify for the Olympic Games in karate.