First Olympic Games to feature female athletes from every participating nation

For the first time in the 116-year history of the modern Olympic Games, every participating nation at London 2012 was represented by female athletes. A record-equalling 204 nations took part in the London Olympics, where, for the first time, Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia allowed their delegations to include women. Female athletes were first allowed to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, but by Barcelona 1992 there were still 35 nations with all-male delegations, a number which had shrunk to just three (Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) for the Beijing 2008 Games. Saudi Arabia was the last nation to accept female athletes, with Sarah Attar (800 metres) and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani (judo) competing at London 2012. One of Qatar's first three female Olympic competitors, Bahya Al Hamad, was the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. London 2012 was also the first Olympic Games in which female athletes competed in every Olympic sport alongside their male counterparts with the inclusion of female boxing for the first time at the Games.