In the summer of 1996, the Centennial Olympic Games were celebrated in Atlanta, GA, half a world away from ancient Olympia . And even during telecasts of men's competitions, NBC geared its TV coverage towards a female audience. Traditionally, after all, men have been the country's athletes and the country's sports fans. But women represent over half of the American population, and network executives want that audience share. Women's athletics receive funding, and they have an audience.
Female athletes compete in the Olympics and indeed often steal the spotlight from the men.
The women's gymnastics team, the women's soccer team, and the women's softball team, among others, dominated national attention in the summer of 1996. Women's athletics have come a long way since the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, with only men competing. And when the ancient Greeks held their games at Olympia , married women were barred from even watching, let alone competing. The position of women in the Greek world was for the most part unenviable by modern standards. On the whole, women played a decidedly subordinate role.