Women in the Olympics

Women in the Olympics Author : Claire Martin Women were seen as the underrated gender; they were depicted as weak and useless throughout history. Women were never given the chance to prove their smarts and strengths until the 1900 s when they were accepted to compete in the challenging Olympics. Just a small victory of being able to enter the Olympics boosted women s confidence around the world. Through hard work, dedication, and constant persistency, women were granted the wish they have dreamt of since the games began; they were finally given a chance to prove themselves to be great. The Greeks believed in the fact that girls and boys were to train physically when they were at a young age. If the girl was strong and courageous it indicated that they would have hardy sons. The goal for such fitness was that it would lead to a healthier body that could withstand the pain and obstacles of childbirth. However, even having all of this athletic ability, women were not allowed to show their strength in public settings such as competition events. Women were viewed specifically as wives and mothers who dedicated their lives towards religion and housework. They were never seen as being the face of an Olympic athlete. Athletic competition played a huge role in ancient Greece and in ancient Egypt. The records of the ancient Olympics range back to 776 B.C. when only men were allowed to compete and women were banned from even spectating. They began with a single 170-meter race. The race was a religious rite intended to inspire man with a divine heroic model. [1] Women engaging in sports with men were often considered a function of courtship. Women could not compete or even watch the games. Any woman found watching the games would be hurled to her death from a hill nearby. The Olympic games required that all competitors took a solemn oath before Zeus. This oath stated that they would compete fairly. The day also began with sacrifices at the alter of Olympian Zeus. [2] This oath was seen as being only for males; it was never visualized for a woman to partake in such manly events. The first modern Olympic games was held in Athens in 1896. This Olympic game was a lot different than the present Olympic ceremony. There was no Olympic flame, no opening ceremony, and there was not march by of the athletes competing. Instead, on the mild and cloudy afternoon of April 6, 1896, King George I of Greece, surrounded by members of the royal family, stood in the royal box of the reconstructed Panathenaic Stadium and declared the Games opened. This was followed by cannon salvos, the release of pigeons, and a massed choir singing a cantata composed for the occasion by a Greek musician. An enthusiastic crowd of 40,000 looked on, and thousands more, who couldn t afford the admission price, packed the surrounding hills. [3] The 1896 Games consisted of 13 nations with 311 men and no women.[4] The woman named Melpomene petitioned to compete in the 1896 Athens marathon. She was denied entry. Against the wishes of her family and the Olympic Organizers, Melpomene unofficially ran the forty 1 / 6

kilometers from Marathon to Athens. [5] She ran alongside two dozen male competitors, but hid herself from the officials until she was out of sight. She lost sight of the men while keeping a steady pace, but passed some of them who were too exhausted to continue on. As the Greek champion, Spiridon Louis, ran the last few steps of the race, spectators threw flowers, hats, jewelry, and money in his path. He had finished in 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds. Late that afternoon, Melpomene arrived at the stadium. She was not allowed to enter. There were no spectators and no cheers. She ran the final lap outside of the stadium and finished in 4 hours, 30 minutes. [6] Her family and Olympic organizers did not want her to run, but she was persistent and ran against their wishes. She was prideful and courageous regarding her goal and she set an example for women across the world. The fight for women to join the Olympics was a long and slow process. Through hard work, determination, drive and dedication, these women who first competed in the Games overcame adversity to achieve their dreams. In the 1900 Paris Olympic Games women were officially allowed to compete. However, the women still had to be lady-like and could not break a sweat. Nineteen women competed in golf, tennis, or yachting, the only events open to women. [7] Many people were outraged that women could compete in what was always a male only competition. Despite women s claims for equal rights, modern sports were based on the thought that sports were ideal for masculinity. Many newspapers and magazines were disrespectful to the women athletes saying that they should worry about their feminine beauty rather than competing in a sport. [8] The spectators just came to watch the males compete. The first female race was a huge deal because it symbolized the ultimate acceptance of female athletes, as rugged, courageous, independent competitors, just like men."[9] Baron Pierre de Coubertin first declared his idea at a meeting in 1892 stating, A female Olympics would be inconvenient, uninteresting, and not correct. [10] He believed that the Olympic crowd was like small children who needed to be taught how to behave. He did not like the thought of young women competing before such a rude and immature crowd. The crowd of spectators was different for male and female sports though. The male event crowds were there to watch the sporting completion, however, the female event crowds were there to leer at the participants. Given his feelings on the thought on women competing in the Olympic games, it was ironic that female contestants first appeared at an Olympiad in his native country; the 1900 Paris Olympics.[11] It wasn t until the 1912 Stockholm Olympics that more women were allowed to enter. Women began to achieve more when they were able to join the Olympics. At the second modern Olympics, Charlotte Chattie Cooper, who lived within easy bicycling distance of Wimbledon and had won the singles championship there three times, became the first female Olympic Champion of the modern Games. [12] Tennis was one of the first of the few Olympic sports that women could participate in because the women who played this sport were said to be well bred and ladylike. Charlotte Cooper was a particularly unusual strong and active girl. She was never tired and never sick; she committed herself to her sport. She won many awards and medals, most importantly, being the first woman to win gold. This showed that women were able to slowly prove their strength 2 / 6

one victory at a time. In the book The Matchless Six, by Ron Hotchkiss, it describes the story of the Canadians first woman s Olympic team. These six women lived at a time in Canada that was called the Golden Age of Women s Sport. As women embraced a more active lifestyle throughout that golden decade of the 1920s, they showed that sport was no longer solely a male activity. Canadian women were not just knocking at the door of the world of sport, one male observer remarked, but had crashed the gate, swarmed the field, and on some cases, driven mere men to the sidelines. [13] A track star, Myrtle Cook, for most of her athletic career, she ran in the shadow of another. Still, she never abandoned her goal of being the best and pushed herself until she achieved it. The greater the ambition, the greater must be your determination to give up pleasure to one controlling purpose, she said, Make every move up a winning one. [14] Myrtle knew she was not the best at the time, but she continued to push herself to become the best; she was going to prove everyone wrong. She did other sports than running track, but sprinting was different than the rest. It was a sport you won on your own merit- no stick, ball, bat, or anything to help out, just your own feet and your prayer that they moved quickly. [15] After high school, she gave up the sport until the opportunity to compete at the Canadian National Exhibition s Athletic Day arose. This was her turning point that led her to be apart of Canada s Matchless Six. Throughout the years of the Olympic games, the participation of women has increased and they have now been accepted in multiple sports and events. Since the 1900 s to 2014, over 40 new events have been added. Around 40.3% of Olympic Athletes are women.[16] Comparing these numbers to the starting amount of nineteen women, this is a huge victory for the female gender. There was a study done on the fact that gender equality does not affect the performance at the Olympic games. In this research project, it suggests that countries with greater gender equality win more medals in the Olympic games. In the years 2012 and 2014, this theory was proven.[17] However, these people did not take in consideration of two key factors. These two key factors however still proved their theory correct. Through hard work, dedication, and constant persistency, women were granted the wish they have dreamt of since the games began; they were finally given a chance to prove themselves to be great. Since the first games, the population of women in the Olympic games has increased profoundly. Women s sports are gaining attention, which boosts the confidence for women across the world. With this one single victory, women view more things as a challenge rather than a threat; they are ready for anything. 3 / 6

[1] Drummond, Siobhan., and Rathburn, Elizabeth. Grace & Glory : A Century of Women in the [2] Athens Correspondent. The Olympic Spirit: Modified Heritage of Ancient Greece. The Times: Digital Archive 1785-1985. July 9, 1952. Pg. 7; issue 52359. [3] Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. [4] Blue, Adrianne. Faster, Higher, Further : Women's Triumphs and Disasters at the Olympics. London: Virago, 1988. [5] Drummond, Siobhan., and Rathburn, Elizabeth. Grace & Glory : A Century of Women in the [6] Drummond, Siobhan., and Rathburn, Elizabeth. Grace & Glory : A Century of Women in the [7] Drummond, Siobhan., and Rathburn, Elizabeth. Grace & Glory : A Century of Women in the [8] Ferez, Sylvain. "From Women's Exclusion to Gender Institution: A Brief History of the Sexual Categorisation Process within Sport." The International Journal of the History of Sport 29, no. 2 (2012): 272-85. [9] Vecsey, George. "The Women's Olympics." New York Times (1923-Current File), Aug 04, 1984. [10] Ferez, Sylvain. "From Women's Exclusion to Gender Institution: A Brief History of the Sexual Categorisation Process within Sport." The International Journal of the History of Sport 29, no. 2 (2012): 272-85. [11] Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. [12] Blue, Adrianne. Faster, Higher, Further : Women's Triumphs and Disasters at the Olympics. London: Virago, 1988. [13] Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. [14] Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. 4 / 6

[15] Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. [16] "Factsheet: Women in the Olympic Movement." Olympic.Org. May 1, 2014. Accessed November 12, 2015. [17] Kuppens, and Pollet. "Gender Equality Probably Does Not Affect Performance at theolympic Games: A Comment on Berdahl, Uhlmann, and Bai (2015)." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2015, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Bibliography Secondary Blue, Adrianne. Faster, Higher, Further : Women's Triumphs and Disasters at the Olympics. London: Virago, 1988. Drummond, Siobhan., and Rathburn, Elizabeth. Grace & Glory : A Century of Women in the "Factsheet: Women in the Olympic Movement." Olympic.Org. May 1, 2014. Accessed November 12, 2015. Ferez, Sylvain. "From Women's Exclusion to Gender Institution: A Brief History of the Sexual Categorisation Process within Sport." The International Journal of the History of Sport 29, no. 2 (2012): 272-85. Hotchkiss, Ron. The Matchless Six : The Story of Canada's First Women's Olympic Team. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2006. Kuppens, and Pollet. "Gender Equality Probably Does Not Affect Performance at theolympic Games: A Comment on Berdahl, Uhlmann, and Bai (2015)." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2015, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Primary Athens Correspondent. The Olympic Spirit: Modified Heritage of Ancient Greece. The Times: Digital Archive 1785-1985. July 9, 1952. Pg. 7; issue 52359. Vecsey, George. "The Women's Olympics." New York Times (1923-Current File), Aug 04, 1984. 5 / 6

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Images Figure 1. "Summer Olympics Photos." National Geographic. Accessed December 14, 2015. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/olympics-historygallery.html#/1900-olympic-games_18600_600x450.jpg. Figure 2. "1900 Summer Olympics." Wikipedia. November 25, 2015. Accessed December 14, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_summer_olympics. Figure 3. "Holiday and Travel Europe." GREECE: The Ancient Olympics. Accessed December 14, 2015. http://holidayandtraveleurope.blogspot.com/2013/01/greece-ancient-olympics.html. 6 / 6