The Paris Olympics are making history for an unexpected reason

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued quota places — the number of qualified athletes each country is allowed to send per event — equally, meaning the totality of athletes will be split evenly between men and women.

Female athletes were first allowed to compete in the Olympics in the 1900 event, which was coincidentally in Paris. As recent as the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, female athlete participation was as low as 20 percent.

Public Affairs Director for the IOC, Christian Klaue, posted a graphic illustrating the year-over-year increase in female athlete participation at the Olympics.

The IOC proudly reported in March that 28 of 32 sports in Paris would be fully gender equal and more than half of the medal events would be open to female athletes, meaning the 2024 Paris Olympics will become the largest gender-equal sporting event ever.

Tradition will also be broken in Paris, with the marathon events being swapped so that the final day of competition, Aug. 11, will close with the women's race instead of the men's.

Team USA fans will have a lot to look forward to with American female stars like gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky likely to be featured heavily in television coverage during these historic Olympics.