The return of gymnast Simone Biles is one of the stories of the Paris Olympics and advertisers want to be part of it.
Biles, 27, recalls in a Powerade advert called Pause is Power how she “felt broken” after a mental block led to her withdrawal at Tokyo 2020. Back from a two-year break, she speaks for sportswear brand Athleta of “hearing yourself over the crowd”.
With an estimated $7 million a year in off-field earnings, Biles is among the world’s most marketable sportswomen. She will also be part of history in Paris, as men and women participate in equal numbers for the first time.
The equal allocation of 10,500 qualifying spots – a far cry from the first Paris Games, in 1900, when there were 22 female athletes – is a point of pride for organisers. It is also the latest milestone in the growth of women’s sport around the world.
When World Athletics decided in April to break with 128 years of Olympic tradition and become the first sport to give winning athletes prize money in Paris, it said it would make equal payments to male and female gold medallists. Athletics champions across its 48 events will receive payments of $50,000.
Equality on the field is not the whole story, though. Neither Biles, nor any other woman, is in the Forbes top 50 best-paid athletes, a list dominated by men’s football and basketball.
As audiences grow for women’s sport, and France sells more tickets than any previous Olympic host, the Games beginning on July 26 could be a chance to close gaps in both funding and facilities.
“Women’s sport in general, and women athletes, tend to have less of both,” said Christina Philippou, a sports finance expert at the University of Portsmouth, who contributed to a review of women’s football in England.
The “beauty of the Olympics” is that “people will just turn on the telly and watch whatever is on, and that helps showcase a lot of the different sports and also helps showcase particular athletes”, Dr Philippou told The National.
“If you’ve got an equal number of athletes, then that’s obviously a good thing because sponsors are more likely to pick them up, advertisers are more likely to pick them up, broadcasters are more likely to pick them up.
“Being able to participate is a major benefit to athletes, and therefore having so many female athletes this year is really good. But on the flip side there is definitely a disparity.”
Women’s sport on the rise
There are some startling examples of how an audience can get hooked. In English football, attendances at Women’s Super League games have almost quadrupled since England won the European Championship in 2022.
It is not just England. Last year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand sold almost two million tickets, a record. Big advertisers signed up stars such as Australia’s Sam Kerr, apparently sensing that women’s football is no passing fad.
Women’s basketball has a buzz about it, too. The final of this year’s NCAA women’s championship, in the US, was watched by 18.9 million TV viewers – more than the men’s final.
The women’s NBA has since announced broadcast deals in Europe, cashing in on what is known as the Caitlin Clark effect, after the 1.83-metre superstar who played in the NCAA final. (Clark, still a rookie at 22, was not picked for the US team in Paris).
Few sports have had the Big Bang that women’s football and basketball have enjoyed. But others have started to gain a following, such as the Indian Women’s Premier League, in cricket, and the Women’s Six Nations, in rugby union.
Investor interest in women’s sports “has surged in recent years” although the industry is still “in the early stages of its development”, says a recent report by financial intelligence company S&P Global.
“Despite strong growth, valuations remain relatively low, presenting attractive opportunities for niche, growth-oriented investors,” its analysts said.
Commercial opportunities
Many of the top earners in women’s sport are tennis pros, who play in the same venues and tournaments as the men. The four Grand Slams have paid out equal prize money since 2007.
At the Olympics, which long guarded an amateur ideal, official prize money for a few athletes is a first at Paris 2024, although payouts by national federations are common.
Even for Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast, any on-field winnings are dwarfed by her $7 million of commercial revenue. It was at the Rio 2016 Olympics where she first gained global attention.
That is a contrast with the men’s world, where the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James have eye-watering base salaries even before they get started on commercial work.
Indian badminton player PV Sindhu, who is tied with Biles on the female rich list, also draws most of her earnings off the court. She has advertising deals from Maybelline cosmetics to American Pistachio Growers. Swimmer Katie Ledecky is endorsing protein drink Core Power and sportswear brand TYR.
In March, US media company GroupM announced it would double spending on women’s sports with advertisers including Google, Mars and Adidas, saying appetite from fans was at an all-time high.
The Olympic boon is not available to everyone, though. Three Afghan women competing in Paris are not recognised by the Taliban government and will get no help or resources from home.
Amnesty International condemned a “violation of Muslim women and girls’ human rights” due to French athletes being banned from competing in a hijab, in a report just days before the opening ceremony.
Although the rule does not cover foreign athletes, it has sparked a backlash from those who see it as an impediment to women's participation.
Top female Olympic medallists - in pictures
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Larissa Latynina of the Soviet Union, who won 18 Olympic medals (9 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze) in gymnastics between 1956 and 1964. All photos: Getty Images -
Birgit Schmidt of East Germany and Germany, who won 12 Olympic medals (8 gold, and 4 silver) in canoeing between 1980 and 2004 -
Jenny Thompson of the USA, who won 12 Olympic medals (8 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze) in swimming between 1992 and 2004 -
Isabell Werth of Germany, who won 12 Olympic medals (7 gold, and 5 silver) in equestrian events between 1992 and 2020 -
Dara Torres of the USA, who won 12 Olympic medals (4 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze) in swimming between 1984 and 2008 -
Natalie Coughlin of the USA, who won 12 Olympic medals (4 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze) in swimming between 2004 and 2012 -
Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia, who won 11 Olympic medals (7 gold, and 4 silver) in gymnastics between 1960 and 1968 -
Allyson Felix of the USA, who won 11 Olympic medals (7 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze) in athletics between 2004 and 2020 -
Emma McKeon of Australia, who won 11 Olympic medals (5 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze) in swimming between 2016 and 2020 -
Katie Ledecky of the USA, who won 10 Olympic medals (7 gold, and 3 silver) in swimming between 2012 and 2020
Legacy
The first 22 female Olympians competed at Paris 1900 in tennis, golf, sailing, croquet and equestrian events. By the second Paris Olympics, in 1924, disciplines such as fencing and swimming had been added but there were still only 135 women. This time there will be more than 5,000.
Female athletes have struck blows for ethnic diversity, too. Moroccan hurdler Nawal El Moutawakel became the first Arab Muslim women to strike Olympic gold, in 1984. Cathy Freeman's 400m triumph at Sydney 2000 was a landmark moment for indigenous Australians.
But beyond the commercial circus of the Olympics, there is the question of who benefits – individual female athletes, or women’s sport more generally.
Paris says it wants a “powerful legacy” on equality. The schedule has been tweaked to give prime-time exposure to women’s medal events. There is advice to broadcasters to avoid terms like ‘catfight’.
The 2024 logo, organisers like to point out, depicts a woman, the French republican symbol Marianne.
At the grassroots level, the Paris team has encouraged schools and sports venues to organise events suitable for women, after its research found that girls are 36 to 38 per cent less active due to playground biases.
In Seine Saint-Denis, home to the Stade de France, there are fewer gyms, tennis courts and sports venues than the French national average or in the wealthy Paris suburbs of Hauts-de-Seine. Here, too, there would be room for commercial growth.
“It’s not just about sponsors paying money, it’s about partnerships as well,” said Dr Philippou, who said women’s sports could benefit from better facilities, equipment and technology.
“It’s all the add-ons that make injuries less likely, make the sport faster or better or more streamlined. Those kind of partnerships can also be very helpful to bring sport forward. It doesn’t always have to be cash that goes to the athletes.
“Is it the number of women who are there, or is it what are our resources saying? Where are our priorities? Where are we pumping in our money? What does it actually look like on the ground? If you’re looking at legacy, that is where you want to end up.”
