The way Anita Defrantz sees it, women's rights or gender equality are terms that don't exist.

"I prefer to call it opportunity,'' the International Olympic Committee vice president said during a stop in Bermuda this week.

And opportunity, she says, has never been better for women.

"Our belief is in open enjoyment of sports for all people,'' said Defrantz, chairperson of the IOC Working Group for Women in Sports. "We want to make it possible for more people to take part in sport by working together and bringing in new ideas. Until recently, women's roles in this has been minuscule.'' Defrantz and the 18-member Working Group met on Tuesday at the Hamilton Princess, the third annual conference since the committee was formed in August, 1994.

As an advisory group, they are into strategies and not resolutions, reporting to the IOC executive, Defrantz said.

While there are no new initiatives that will "turn the world upside down,'' she said this year's conference was able to report further success in the IOC's call for sports equality.

Defrantz only has to look in the mirror to see that. A former Olympic rower, she was elected vice president in September, the first female to hold that position in the 104-year history of the IOC.

In addition, she said, 12 of the 118 IOC members are now women, well ahead of the ten percent goal by 2000, set two years ago. And on the field of play, every sport but two -- boxing and wrestling -- will have women participants in the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

In contrast, Defrantz said, the Olympic Games 100 years earlier had only two sports for women.

The rise of women in sport is one of the reasons Bermuda was selected for the conference, she said, pointing to Premier Pamela Gordon, a former Sports Minister.

This was Defrantz's first visit to Bermuda but "I can assure you it's not my last.'' She called Bermuda "very evolved'' in its opportunities for women in sport.

Asked why female representation in Bermuda sports remains a fraction of that of men, she said the dilemma was "not unusual'' worldwide.

"That's one of the things we're working towards,'' she said.

This involves those same strategies, including financial support -- three medallists in Nagano benefited from scholarships offered by the IOC -- changing of attitudes in several countries, notably Islamic nations, and the media.

Television coverage of women's sports is often of a poorer quality than that of men's, translating into an unfavourable image for viewers, she said. That in turn influences participation and the amount of money that is redirected back into women's sports.

The print media also does an inadequate job of promoting women's sports, she said.

She admitted that correcting trends of hundreds of years hasn't been easy but "my parents taught me to see the road, not obstacles, (although) there have been some bumps along the way.'' How much longer the Working Group continues depends on its success, Defrantz said. "Our goal is to work ourselves out of existence ... when every person has a chance to be involved in sports.'' Translation: 2005 "if not sooner.'' Defrantz notes the IOC's role in promoting women's sports goes beyond merely the Olympic Games. Rhyming off the multi-national participants in the Working Group -- including Bermuda Olympic Committee president Austin Woods, representing all the National Olympic Committees -- she called it an example of the "peace that can exist in the world ... all of us working together on behalf of sport.'' As the Women in Sports issue winds down, bigger ones remain, notably the use of performance-enhancing drugs and growth hormones.

"It pains me,'' Defrantz said. "I don't why (an athlete) would possibly cheat. At the end of the competition, how can you say you've won?'' Defrantz backed off questions about marijuana use, in particular the handing back of a gold medal to a Canadian snowboarder who tested positive at the Nagano Winter Games.

She said the IOC would be discussing the issue at a doping conference in Sydney next month.