On International Women’s Day, the IOC speaks to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who became the first female Deputy President of South Africa and is now the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of UN Women.

Some of the top contenders for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 look back on their favourite Olympic moments – and Olympians – of their lives so far.

The theme of International Women’s Day 2021 is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” Throughout March and in the run-up to Tokyo 2020, the IOC will share the journeys of inspirational women and men who are dedicated to combating gender inequality and promoting female representation in leadership roles. Here, in the first article of the series, the IOC speaks to the Olympic gymnast and current BBC Director of Sport, Barbara Slater, about the importance of women holding leadership positions and the issues of equal representation and greater visibility in women’s sport.

In simple terms, the broadcast footprint at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be 30 per cent smaller than it was at Rio 2016, while content production will be up by about 30 per cent. Add the fact that technology is enabling a host of new ways to tell the stories of the Games and you can see that OBS boss Yiannis Exarchos is excited about uncovering new opportunities.

Maame Biney caught the eye of ice sport aficionados with her incredible junior career – then that of the wider world at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 as she became the USA’s first female African American short track Olympian. Now, she is looking to make headlines for winning medals at Beijing 2022 – aided by meditation, positive thinking and an alter ego.