UCI aims for quota equality in men's and women's road events for 2024 Paris Olympics

The women's Olympic Games road race
The women's Olympic Games road race (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

The UCI recently announced the number of athletes that each National Olympic Committee has qualified for road events during the Olympic Games in Tokyo, with spots for 130 men and 67 women. This startling but historic lack of parity has many questioning the UCI's commitment to equality in professional cycling. In response, the UCI has told Cyclingnews that it aims for total equality between men and women road cycling quotas by the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

"Today, equality between men and women has been reached when it comes to the number of events at the Olympic Games [11 for each gender across the five cycling disciplines]. As for the number of participating athletes, parity is guaranteed for three of the five disciplines – mountain bike [38 athletes], BMX Racing [24] and BMX Freestyle [9] – and has almost been reached for track [98 compared to 91, essentially due to the composition of the teams for the team sprint]," a UCI spokesperson told Cyclingnews.

Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.