Women Outnumber Men On U.S. Olympic Team
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (AP) - During this, the summer of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, 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 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.
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