Female Olympians hit the fashion runway in Paris to celebrate hard-won gender parity

It may be too early to call these Paris Olympics the fashion Olympics. But, in the city widely considered the capital of fashion, the word "fashion” has surely been mentioned so far more by now than in any other Games.

And so it made sense to Angela Ruggiero, a four-time U.S. Olympic medalist in ice hockey, that if she was going to launch a celebration of gender parity in these Games, it should be with a fashion show. And that's how some 20 or so former or current Olympians wound up sashaying down a makeshift runway on Sunday at a Paris restaurant, to whoops and high-fives from a supportive audience.

 Angela Ruggiero appears on a stage during a catwalk show featuring female athletes at Paris' Opera Garnier. Reuters

For years, says Ruggiero, who runs a market research firm focused on the intersection of sport and innovation, she’s been following "this trend of sport and fashion colliding.”

"And the Olympics are in Paris. I mean, what a perfect venue to celebrate a monumental achievement of gender parity on the field while nodding to opportunities off the field, including elevating these women’s voices through style,” she told The Associated Press.

 Nada Mohamed Wafa appears on a stage during a catwalk show featuring female athletes at Paris' Opera Garnier. 

This year, the International Olympic Committee set a goal of a 50-50 split between male and female athletes. For the first time, women have an equal share with men of an entry quota that's 10,500 athletes across 329 events.

The actual gender split won’t be known until the end of the Games, given unknowns in team selections, rules in different countries, and other areas. It’s possible the numbers will fall just short of parity. But regardless of where specific numbers fall, the female athletes who joined Ruggiero on the runway - many from the United States, but also from Australia, New Zealand, Liberia, Qatar and elsewhere - were eager to celebrate the moment.

 Afghan women soccer team athletes appear on a stage during a catwalk show. AFP

And, also, to push for future advancements in other areas of sports such as decision-making at the highest levels.

"We have to continue the momentum,” said Kerri Walsh Jennings, the U.S. beach volleyball player who won three gold medals and a bronze. "And we need to broaden it, because it can’t be once in a while. It can’t be once every four years, at a special event like this. We need it 365, 24-7, because women are 50% of the population.”

The runway show, called PARITY Paris, was hosted by the 4TheWalk clothing and merchandise brand at a restaurant next to Paris’ famed Palais Garnier opera house, in partnership with Coca-Cola. Athlete-models, most of whom had never strutted a runway, wore looks by host and other brands such as Sneex footwear.

 Angella Goran appears on a stage during a catwalk show. 

A few said they had been nervous beforehand, among them Sarah Walker, a New Zealand BMX racer who is six months pregnant with her second child - and bared her baby bump on the catwalk.

"I felt very scared - but that was kind of my indication that maybe I should do it,” Walker said later. "So especially with a 2-year-old daughter and another baby girl on the way, I was like, actually this is really important to do for women in the future. Setting an example that women can do anything.”

Natalie Cook, an Australian beach volleyball player who competed in five Olympics, had a lot of fun, making a supermodel hair-flicking gesture as she neared photographers.

"I’m a first-timer,” she said of her catwalk experience. "And I don’t think I’ll give up my athletic career.”

Reuters