There's a time-honored tradition that my mom and I love to observe, cheering for the New York

City Marathon Runners. The route runs right in front of our building, and we're at one of those

points where people are struggling. Think Mile 18. But every year, without fail, there's one

pack of runners that don't look like they're struggling at all.

The elite women runners. Something about watching them move in unison, their focus, their grit,

their determination. I'm in complete awe when they breeze by. There's something powerful about

just seeing these female athletes and witnessing their strength.

When I'm standing there with my mom cheering as hard as I can,

I realize this is something that's increasingly rare.

The images and clips and videos that we typically see about professional sports

often feature men, and it turns out that's actually by design.

I'm Madupa Akinola.

This is Ted Business, a podcast from TED.

Our speaker today, Kate Johnson, is a former Olympic rower.

And now a global marketing manager for sports and entertainment at Google.

So she knows a thing or two about the intersection of athletics and technology.

And she knows exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to seeing women athletes in action

and how rare that can be. In this talk, Kate breaks down exactly how algorithms reinforce the historic disparities

between men and women's sports and how we got to this point. Then after the talk, I'll challenge

you to do something about it. But first, a quick break. And now, Kate Johnson takes the TED stage.

The Olympics has always served as a touch point for me to reflect on just how quickly our world changes.

Think about it.

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