The IOC said the reason for the sharp increase in women's soccer teams was the rapidly growing popularity of women's team sports, especially in the United States, and that change in the competition format reflected that rapid growth.
Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry became the first woman and African to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, saying it was an "extraordinary moment".
Seven heavyweight candidates are vying to become the most powerful person in sport, a post 71-year-old Bach has held for 12 years.
North Korean Olympians have not received Samsung smartphones, unlike athletes from other countries, the IOC told AFP on Thursday, hours after Seoul suggested that providing them the phones could violate UN sanctions against the nuclear-armed North.
"We are talking about women's boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, raised as women, who have passports as women and who have competed for many years as women and this is a clear definition of a woman," Thomas Bach told a press conference.
The introduction of new sports and more urban and visually spectacular venues are necessary to attract younger audiences to secure the Olympic Games' survival, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.
The head of the Palestine Olympic Committee criticised "double standards" from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday over its decision to allow Israel to compete at the Paris Games.
The scenario raises questions about the selection process and effectiveness of the scholarship programme in improving athletes' performance on the global stage.
Afghanistan's Taliban government does not recognise the three female athletes who will represent the country at the Paris Olympic Games this month, a spokesman for their sports department said.
Russia insist it expects to avoid a blanket ban from the IOC on its competitors at the Rio Olympics despite its track and field squad losing an appeal over a suspension for state-sponsored doping.
A further 45 athletes test positive for banned substances after a second set of samples were re-analysed from the London and Beijing Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismiss an appeal against a ban on Russia's track and field team for the Rio Olympic Games over state-run doping.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport says it had rejected Russia's appeal against the exclusion of its track and field athletes from the Rio Games starting on August 5.
The International Olympic Committee says it would take up to a week to decide whether to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics over its "state" doping machine.
The report to be released Monday into allegations of widespread state-sponsored doping in Russia has already sparked rumblings it could trigger the "nuclear option" of a full ban of Russia from the Rio Olympics.
Athletes from one sport should not be punished for the sins of those from another, the IOC president said on Wednesday,
Despite financial and organisational problems that have delayed other construction projects for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the largest athletes' village in the long history of the Games is unveiled in the city on Wednesday.
A senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official says he takes allegations of illegal payments to help Tokyo secure the 2020 Games "seriously" but said his group will not conduct a probe of their own.
Russia's sports ministry says on Wednesday it fully supports actions by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bar athletes who dope from competitions, but said clean athletes should not be excluded from the Rio games.
