Team USA Olympics 2012: Women Lead in Medal Count Over Men; Title IX Credited for Better Female Performance

By Michael Oleaga (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Aug 10, 2012 02:53 PM EDT

With debuts and impressive wins, the 2012 London Summer Olympics will probably be referred to the "Women's Olympics."

For the first time in modern day Olympic history, all participating nations have at least one female in a sport. This was done by orders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which forced Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei to include women to the event. Had the three countries not included at least one female athlete, they faced an immediate Olympic ban until they do so.

During the opening ceremony, IOC President Jacques Rogge stated the 30^th Olympic Games marked "a major boost for gender equality."

For Team USA, it marked the first time there are more female athletes than male. A record 269 women to 261 men make up the 530 US delegation of athletes. The women to men ratio are an improvement compared to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics when 310 men and 286 women participated.

US Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun told NBCOlympics the record as a "true testament to the impact of Title IX." The impact he's referring to is the 1972 law that increased opportunities for women to participate in overall scholastic athletic events.

During the 2012 Olympics, women have won nearly twice as many medals than men: 100 to 59, based on NPR's Bill Chappell's calculations.

A look at the 2012 Olympic medal leader board shows Michael Phelps winning the most medals with six, however three female American swimmers are not far behind him. Missy Franklin (five medals), Allison Schmitt (5 medals), and Dana Vollmer (3 medals) are next to lead in the medal count compared all other countries participating. Ryan Lochte rounds out the top five with five medals, but won less gold medals compared to Vollmer, 3-2.

The women have fared much better than men in soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, and just recently won their first gold in water polo.

The women have won 51 medals in London, and likely to beat the 53 medals won in 2008 at Beijing.