Women in the Olympic solidarity activities in Iran: From Barcelona to RioA case study of the technical courses of 1993 to 2016

Olympic solidarity is one of the key International Olympics committee’s commissions. This commission tries to support its members all across the world using its vast financial resources. Organizing technical courses for couches all around the world is one of the main programs held by this commission. This study aims to explore the position of women in the aforementioned courses throughout a 24-year period, from Barcelona Olympic to Rio Olympic. This is a qualitative research with a general multi-dimensional approach. The study population includes all the technical courses held in Iran upon the request of Iranian Olympics committee between the years 1993 to 2016. According to the study, the average participation of women in technical courses is very low, and among the 77 courses, only four of them were exclusive to women. In addition, the women’s participation rate was the highest between the years 2008 to 2012 and it was the lowest between the years 2012 and 2016. Considering the latest guidelines issued by International Olympics committee (IOC) which encourages women to participation and aims to increase their participation rate to 50%, it is imperative for the Olympic Solidarity Commission to revise its plans in accordance to this guideline for the 2020 Olympics.