Before the 2016 Games Begin, Look Back on These 10 Olympic Milestones for Women
Before the 2016 Games Begin, Look Back on These 10 Olympic Milestones for Women
Gigi Fernandez celebrates gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Though the ancient games may have allowed for women’s participation, women first took part in the modern Olympic Games in 1900—with 22 women competing in only golf and tennis. We’ve made progress since then—as of 1991, any new sport seeking to join the Olympic program must have an equivalent women’s competition—but inequities in treatment persist.
Nonetheless, women have shaped Olympic history, and no doubt will continue to do so. These are ten historic milestones for women we’re looking back on as the world watches Rio.
US women, however, were still barred from Olympic swimming competitions, as both the American Olympic Committee and the Amateur Athletic Union believed that women had no place in formal swimming competitions or in "any event in which they would not wear long skirts." Being a female swimmer in the US at that time required bathing costumes that were not only detrimental to swimming, but were also dangerous to the swimmer. This decision remained in place until 1920.
1928, Amsterdam
In 1928, the Olympic Games expanded the categories for women across many sports, and North American runner Elizabeth "Betty" Robinson became the first woman in Olympic history to win gold in a track-and-field event. The 16-year-old high school student was discovered by her coach as she was running to catch a train.
In 1931, Robinson was involved in a plane crash, and a man who found her in a coma among the wreckage mistook her for dead, putting her in his trunk and driving her to an undertaker, where she was determined to be alive. Seven months later, Robinson awoke fully from her coma, still severely injured. Though still recovering, Robinson took part in the US relay team at the 1936 Olympics, where they took home gold.
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