The bar chart compares the numbers of male and female athletes who participated in the Olympic Games from 1924 to 2012, while the line graph illustrates the total number of competitors over the same period.
Looking first at gender participation, men consistently outnumbered women in every year shown. The number of male athletes increased steadily, rising from around 3,000 in 1924 to approximately 6,000 by 2012. In contrast, female participation started at a very low level, with only a small number of women competing in 1924. However, this figure grew gradually by 1952 and then rose more sharply in the following decades, reaching nearly 5,000 participants by the end of the period.
Turning to the total number of athletes, overall participation showed a continuous upward trend. The total increased from roughly 3,000 competitors in 1924 to about 5,000 in 1952, before climbing further to around 7,000 in 1984. The most significant growth occurred after 1984, with the figure peaking at just over 10,000 participants in 2012.
Overall, Olympic participation increased substantially throughout the period. Although men remained the majority of athletes, female participation grew at a much faster rate, resulting in a noticeably narrower gender gap by 2012.