July 15, 2012- ALBANY, GA from WALB- In less than two weeks, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games will begin with the opening ceremony taking place on July 27th in London, but this year you might notice something different with team USA's roster.
For the first time ever Team USA has more women on their roster than men.
"It's good to know females are now making their mark in the athletic arena," said Albany Tech Athletic Director Mary Richardson.
Richardson says she wasn't really surprised to hear that women outnumbered men on the US Olympic roster for this year's games.
"One of the questions we kept hearing from students is when are you going to start a female program?" said Richardson.
Now Albany Tech has a women's basketball program, going three years strong.
"At our facility here, we're about 75% female. 75-80% female," said Kris Morrill owner of Crossfit Gym.
Morrill says more and more women are coming to his gym to get into shape and become more athletic.
"It's empowering almost for a woman to come in on day 1 and she can't even hang from the bar for more than 30 seconds to three months later she's doing pull-ups on her on. That's a huge accomplishment," said Morrill.
Many credit Title IX, which barred gender discrimination in education and is best known for expanding athletic opportunities for women.
"If Title IX was not there for high schools and colleges, I don't think there would be a WNBA because those students would not have the opportunities to participate in sporting events," said Richardson.
As more barriers come down for females in sports, supporters of women's athletics hope interest of young ladies across the world continue to rise.
There are 269 women on the US Olympic roster versus 261 men.
You can see the opening ceremony and plenty of Olympic action on WALB NBC starting July 27th.
See the original story at WALB