Member Center

The Main Stream

For first time ever, women outnumber men on U.S. Olympic team

Posted: Jul 10, 2012 9:00 PM
Updated: Jul 10, 2012 9:01 PM

Bookmark and Share
Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) - American women have reached another milestone in sports: For the first time, they outnumber men on the U.S. Olympic team.

The U.S. Olympic Committee released its roster for the London Olympics on Tuesday. There were 269 women and 261 men.

CEO Scott Blackmun called it a "true testament to the impact of Title IX," the 1972 law that increased opportunities for women in sports across America.

The women's names ranged from 'A' - high jumper Amy Acuff, making her fifth Olympic appearance - to 'Z' - Kate Ziegler, a world-champion swimmer who will be at the Olympics for the first time this year.

Michael Phelps, who already has 14 Olympic medals, is one of 228 athletes making return trips to the games. Among those, there are 124 who already have medals; 76 of those were Olympic champions.

Acuff is one of seven Americans making their fifth trip to the Olympics. Before this year, only 16 had been to five games.

This year's oldest American athlete is 54-year-old equestrian rider Karen O'Connor, while the youngest is 15-year-old swimmer Katie Ledecky.

Basketball player Tyson Chandler is the tallest American at 7-foot-1, while gymnast Gabby Douglas is one of the three shortest Americans, at 4-11.

There are 53 dads and 11 moms on the team, two sets of twins (Bob and Mike Bryan in tennis and Grant James and Ross James in rowing) and seven who come out of the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program.

The Olympics start July 27. The U.S. team will have athletes competing in 246 out of 302 medal events.

Comments

KVOA.com is Social!

Most Popular

DON'T MISS THESE!

Thumbnail
FC TUCSON

Check out the latest events FC Tucson has scheduled.

Thumbnail
SEASON 4 HOPE

Help those in need this holiday season

Thumbnail
SUBMIT NEWS TIP

Click here to submit a news tip to us!

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON ON FACEBOOK

Become a Facebook Fan!

Thumbnail
@KVOA ON TWITTER

Follow us!

Thumbnail
BECOME A MEMBER

Sign up on KVOA.com for newsletters, exclusive deals, and more!

Thumbnail
KVOA.COM LATEST CONTESTS

Win! Win! Win!

Thumbnail
KVOA MOBILE APPS

Get news, weather and more on your smartphone and tablet!

Thumbnail
TEXT ALERTS

Get texts for news, traffic, deals and more!

Thumbnail
KRISTI'S KIDS

Stories and videos with Kristi's Kids

Thumbnail
NEWS 4 TUCSON @ 4

What's happening on News 4 @ 4

Thumbnail
ADVERTISE WITH KVOA.COM

Let us help grow your business

Thumbnail
COMMUNITY CALENDAR

What's happening?

Thumbnail
KVOA PROGRAM SCHEDULE

What's on KVOA and when!

Thumbnail
CONTACT US

Contact info for our department heads

Thumbnail
FCC ONLINE PUBLIC FILE

FCC Public File of Records, Reports, and More

Thumbnail
MEET US!

KVOA's on air personalities!

Thumbnail
KVOA CAREERS

Work at News 4 Tucson

Thumbnail
RSS FEEDS

Complete feeds of all KVOA.com stories