The International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday announced that this year's Tokyo Olympics will have the option of a male and female competitor jointly bearing their country's flag at the opening ceremony. IOC has encouraged all National Olympic Committees to make use of this option.

The IOC's Executive Board added that there should be, for the first time, at least one female and one male athlete in every one of the 206 teams as well as the Refugee Olympic Team.

The IOC statement also said that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, to be held in July-August, will be the first gender-balanced Olympic Games in the history with 48.8 per cent women's participation.