In accordance with the mission it has set itself to further the development of sport, the International Olympic Committee strives to promote women' s participation in sports activities in the Olympic Games. Sport, whether competition sport or sport for all, has become a social force with a major impact on the structure of society and the condition of women. In all countries, the message and values communicated by sport, through its regulatory bodies, math a substantial part of the population regardless of social class. Because of this, sport is a tremendous medium of communication and emancipation which has to a certain extent helped to build women' s awareness and hence their role in society. And it is worth stressing that by engaging in activities which are by definition dosed to them, women can overturn social preconceptions and reassert their identity. Engaging in sport enriches women in terms of communication, feelings and sociability. It is certainly true that this process is largely determined by the position of women within a given society, and that they are still under-represented in countries where cultural and religious traditions limit their advancement. However, we will see more and more women choosing to take up a sport, whether this means breaking with the norms of their society or staying within them. Regardless of the path chosen, these women will become role models for many of their peers who see their actions as a contribution, however small, to their emancipation. The Olympic Movement is firmly convinced of the need to encourage sports practice among women, and is working to that end, at the same time taking cultural specifics into account and accommodating them. Women must also play a greater part in decision making. It is our task to facilitate access for women to leadership positions within national and world sport, as it is through them that these ideas can be passed on to future generations, since women are still the privileged interlocutors for education in the broadest sense of the term. Historically, and although the 1896 Olympic Games were not opened to women, they were already taking part in physical activities in the ancient times, and particularly in the competitions of the Her Games, staged specifically for them. Historical documents also show that Roman women were engaged in horse-tiding and swimming. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, women put leisure activities aside, as did men. But the following centuries were marked by renewed interest, until at the end of the nineteenth century women became more involved in sports activities by establishing their own clubs and taking up new sports. Women' s first participation in the Olympic Games goes back to 1900 when they took part in the tennis and golf events and in an increasing number of other sports in following years. We are pleased to see that Coubertin' s reservations did not prevent women from participating nor did it stop them from organizing their own Women' s Olympiad at Monaco in 1921 on the initiative A/ice Milliat, the great champion of women' s rights in European sport. More generally since the 1970s, we have seen a rising awareness of the contribution of sport to well-being and in particular to that of women. Women' s sports associations and clubs have made their appearance mostly in the developed countries but also in developing ones. Thanks to the efforts of women and their struggle for equality, women' s competitive sport has gained full recognition. As a result, women today took part in the Games of the XXVI Olympiad in the United States of America, in 1996, with a program of 21 sports, and 108 events, including 11 mixed events, and will compete in six sports and 31 events, including 2 mixed events, in the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, in 1998. It was also with the aim of promoting women' s sport that the IOC decided tall sports seeking inclusion in the Oly