Women's athletics up to WWII (part 5 of "the long and arduous road of women to the Olympics")

Women have been active in athletics since the most remote past. In a post devoted to women athletics in Ancient Greece I dispelled the myth that women were banned from sports. They even had their own Olympics, the Herean Games. 

But with the decline and the subsequent demise of the Olympic Games and the arrival of the  Middle Ages women's athletics, and sports in general, entered a (very) long period of total absence. In fact the first reference to a modern sportwoman, is that to Mary, Queen of Scots, who lived in the 16 century and was known to be an avid golfer. It is sad that the Renaissance did nothing to change the situation as far as women physical activities were concerned. There were even pseudo-scientific theories "explaining" the situation. Using the writings of Aristotle (who unfortunately wrote treatises on many subjects he did not really master) medical authorities declared that physical actvity would render the women infertile. According to those "authorities" women had a "limited amount of energy" and already the monthly hormonal expenditure was using most of it. Thus the women belonging to the affluent class should refrain from exerting themselves: their female servants were doing all the hard work for them (even after the abolishment of slavery). A consequence of the "limited energy" argument was that women should not spend too much time in studies. The anti-education fertility argument was based on the observation that women who had graduated from colleges had a tendency to have fewer children. Which was totally natural since, having been educated, they had professional careers which were incompatible with too large families. And which led President Roosvelt to accuse the families sending their daughters to college to conspire to commit "race suicide".

Female pedestrian event

The first mention of an organised women's athletics activity in the timeline of women's sports appears in 1882 when the YWCA in Boston organised athletic games for women. However no details whatsoever appear to be exist concerning this event. But I believe that this historical account focuses mainly on amateur activities, neglecting all the 19th century's pedestrianism frenzy where the participants (male or female) were professional. It is perhaps the echos of the pedestriennes' exploits (and monetary profits) that motivated S. Revithi to run the Athens Marathon in 1896.

Vassar Field Day

The first attested women athletics competition was the famous Vassar College Field Day of 1895. The founder of the college, M. Vassar believed that physical activity brought balance to the students' lives and thus made the daily participation in some sort of physical activity mandatory. Still, competition was not a priority and a good 30 years elapsed from the college's creation to the organisation of the first field day.  Seventeen girls took part, participating in the five events of the programme: 100 yd, long jump, high jump, 120 yd hurdles and 220 yd. (It is funny that the Vassar website, while talking about five events, lists only four, omitting the hurdles. Fortunately Quercetani is his Storia dell'Atletica Mondiale, gives all the details, including the performances of the winners). The success of this organisation ensured the survival of the field day for the next forty years. By 1897 precise rules were introduced, regulating the competition. On this occasion R. Reed broke the world long jump record with 4.14 m (although there exists no official confirmation of this). By the 10th field day the Vassar competition was attracting the attention of the local newspapers. The last Vassar field day was held in 1937. The disappearance of this traditional competition had a practical reason: as of 1938 Vassar College did no longer have a track. So the field day became a sports day and athletics lost the stage.

The experience of Vassar College was not unique. Soon women started participating in athletics but their activities did not obtain offical recognition. Things did change thanks to the struggles of A. Milliat. I wrote a long post telling this story of the woman who, almost single-handedly, brought women athletics to the Olympics. In 1919 Milliat petitioned the IOC for the inclusion of women's athletics events in the 1924, Paris, Olympiad. As was to be expected, they refused. Milliat then set out to organise the Women's Olympiad and founded the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) which would oversee international women's sporting events. 

Mary Lines

The first women's Olympiad took place in Monte Carlo with a hundred participants representing five nations. The program comprised 10 events: 60 m, 250 m, 800 m, 65 m hurdles, 4x75 m relay, 4x175 m relay, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put. The last two events were two-handed competitions the result being obtained through the addition of the best marks obtained with right-handed and left-handed throws. The star of the games was Mary Lines who won the 60 m, 250 m and long jump and finished second in the 800 m. She was to shine in the next year's Olympiad as well winning the 250 m and long jump finishing second in the 60 m. She would also participate in the 1923 and 1924 editions finishings second in the 800 in the former and first in the 250 m, 120 yd hurdles and long jump in the latter. 

The 1922 edition of the Women's Olympiad saw the addition of a pentathlon in the program (60 m, 300 m, high jump, javelin and shot put, both two-handed). The pentathlon would survive in the 1923 organisation only to disappear in the 1924. The Women's Olympiad marked a departure from the Monte Carlo organisations and was held in London (under the moniker Women's International and British Games). The Women's Amateur Athletic Association was founded just the previous year and the first British women's championships were held that same year. M. Lines was present winning four events, 100 yd, 440 yd, 120 yd hurdles and long jump. The organisation in Great Britain brought a change in the program with imperial distances appearing alongside metric ones. The programm thus comprised: 100 yd, 250 m, 1000 m, 120 yd hurdles, 1000 m walking, 4x110 yd relay, 4x220 yd relay, long jump, high jump, discus throw, shot put and javelin throw (the last two, two-handed). 

From the 1922 Monte Carlo Olympiad

Parallely to the Monte Carlo Olympiad, Milliat planned to organise the first Women's Olympic games in Paris in 1922. The IOC objected to the "olympic" title and after negociations it was agreed that 10 athletic events be included in the 1928 Olympics program. Milliat changed the title of the Paris games to Women's World Games and, as expected, the IOC did not keep their promise and included a women's program with just 5 events (100 m, 800 m, 4x100 m, high jump and discus) all the while making it clear that this was experimental(!). In fact this led to the only feminist boycott in the olympic history: the WAAA, being unhappy with the IOC defaulting on the promise of 10 events, decided to withdraw their participation in the 1928 Games.

Kinue Hitomi

The 1922 World Games saw 77 participants from 5 nations. For the first time a US team was present winning four gold medals. (In fact, the try-outs for the Games are considered as the first national US women's track meet. The first official Women's US championships were held the very next year). The program of the Games comprised 60 m, 100 yd, 300 m, 1000 m, 100 yd hurdles, 4x110 yd relay, high jump, long jump, standing long jump, shot put and javelin throw (two-handed). Given the attitude of the IOC, Milliat went ahead with the organisation of the World Games. The 1926 edition took place in Göteborg, the tournament opening with an olympic-style ceremony. The program was almost the same as that of 1922 with a 250 m replacing the 300 m and a 1000 m walking entering the program. The 1926 Games saw the arrival of one of the greatest names of the interwar women's athletics, Kinue Hitomi. She won the long jump (with a 5.50 m WR) and the standing one, placed second in the discus, third in the 100 yd, 5th in the 60 m and 6th in the 250 m. (K.  Hitomi's story is a particularly interesting, and alas very brief, one. It would be interesting to write about her one day). Göteborg was also the first appearance of the great discus champion H. Konopacka. She would go on and win the olympic title in 1928 (and also gold in the 1930 World Games).

The 1928 Olympics saw a great competition in the 100 m where the OR was broken several times and the WR equalled in the final. In the absence of the long jump in the program K. Hitomi opted for the 100 m, but exited in the semis. She then decided to run the 800 m (late entries were possible at that time) despite the fact that she hadn't run the distance before. In a memorable race she finished just behind L. Radtke, with a time better than the standing WR. The canadian sprinters took their revenge after their defeat in the 100 m by winning the 4x100 m relay. E. Catherwood broke the high jump WR and H. Konopacka did the same in the discus throw. The anti-feminist mafia did not like the success of the women and managed to cook up a 800-gate in order to curtail the women's aspirations at a program parity.

Milliat pursued her struggle organising the third World Games in Prague, in 1930. The program saw at long last the disappearance of imperial distances, standing jumps and two-handed throws. It comprised 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, 800 m, 80 m hurdles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and a triathlon(!). The events of the latter were 100 m, high jump and javelin throw. K. Hitomi was first in the long jump, second in the triathlon, and third in the 60 m and the javelin throw. She was the best all-around athlete of the world. (And let us not forget that at one time she held the WR for the triple jump). The sprint events in Prague were won by S. Walasiewicz. Quercetani writes: "Her masculine appearance gave rise to perplexity in some querters. Unfortunately, suspicions were confirmed in 1980, when she was shot dead. An autopsy revealed a situation certainly not compatible with women's sports".

In 1931 were organised in Florence the Olimpiadi della Grazia, an essentially european track and field event. The program saw the disappearance of the 800 m and the two relays were 3x100 m and 4x100 m(!). The 1932, Los Angeles, Olympics comprised one more event compared to the Amsterdam Games: 100 m,  80 m hurdles, 4x100 m, high jump, discus throw and javelin throw (but since the 800 m had exited the program, there were two new events, the hurdles and the javelin). Notice that the longest distance the women were competing on was the 100 m, while men were competing over the Marathon and the 50 km racewalk. The heroine of the 1932 Games was Mildred (Babe) Didrikson: she won the hurdles, the javelin throw and was second in the high jump (having being arbitrarily disqualified in the jump-off for the first place). To this date she is the only athlete having won olympic medals in running, jumping and throwing. 

In 1934 were celebrated in London the second British Empire Games (the Games survive to this day under the less pretentious name of Commonwealth Games). On this occasion a women's athletics competition was figuring for the first time in the programm with 100 yd, 220 yd, 880 yd, 80 m hurdles (yes, that's right, the distance was metric), high jump, long jump, javelin throw and two relays 110-220-110 yd and 220-110-220-110 yd. Gladys Lunn won both the 880 yd race and the javelin throw while Marjorie Clark won the hurdles and the high jump. In the same venue and right after the Empire Games took place the World Games. The program had been fleshed out consisting in no fewer than 12 events: 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, 800 m, 80 m hurdles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and a pentathlon (100 metres, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put). It was as close as one could get to a world championship with 19 nations present and 200 participants. Meanwhile the first European athletics championships took place in Torino and of course there was no women's program. 

Babe Didrikson (right)

The success of women's athletics was such that the IOC and IAAF instances could not ignore them any more. Thus, in 1936, after lengthy negotiations it was agreed that the FSFI would relinquish the control of the international women's athletic events to the IAAF. In return the IAAF would recognise the FSFI records, organise the fifth Women's World Games in 1938 and propose a complete programme of women's events for the Olympics. Only the first commitment was respected. The World Games of 1938 became a European championship as for the extended Olympic program, women had to wait for long, long years before obtaining a decent programme, let alone parity. The FSFI, having lost the control of women's athletics, lost also the financial support of the various governments, A. Milliat withdrew from the international scene and the organisation faded out.  

O. Valla and C. Testoni

Meanwhile in 1936 took place the 1936, Berlin, Olympic Games. Talking about the Nazi-organised Olympics is worth a separate article which I may (or not) write one day. The program was the same as that of Los Angeles. There were two women's world records in the Games. The German relay team broke the world record in the semis. The were the clear favourite for the gold medal but they fumbled the last exchange, dropped the baton and went our of the race. Ondina Valla equalled the 80 m hurdles WR in the semis and then went on to win a final where the first four were given the same (hand) time. The medalists and their order was determined on the basis of the automatic timing: nine thousands of a second separated the silver medal from the fourth place (and the unlucky C. Testoni who went on to win the Europeans two years later establishing a new world record). 

The last pre-WWII major organisation were the 1938 European Games. Once more the mistrust towards women's athletics manifested itself by having two distinct competitions: one for men in Paris and, two weeks later, that for women in Vienna. The program was now comprising 9 events: 100 m, 200 m, 80 m hudles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw and javelin throw. It would remain the same for all major championships till 1960. Notice that for the first time women's shot put was appearing in an official program. Up to that point it was banned from the Olympics since de Coubertin hated that event for women. The competition was dominated by german athletes competing under the nazi flag (their male teammates did the same in the men's competition). And one notices an appearance at a podium, with two bronze medals in the 100 and 200 m of Fanny Koen. (She had participated in the Berlin Olympics, finishing 5th in the high jump and again 5th in the 4x100 relay). By 1938 F. Koen had ran her first world record with 11.0 s in the 100 yd. She married J. Blankers in 1940 and from then onwards she was going to be known as F. Blankers-Koen. And she went on to dominate the post-war women's athletics, known as "de vliegende huisvrouw" (the flying housewife).

When I set out to write this post I thought that I could cover the history of women's athletics from ostracism to parity in one article. And then I discovered that there was so much to tell. The history of women's athletics is incredibly rich. So, after having written a very long post I barely arrived at the end of the 30s. It is clear that I have to stop somewhere and this is probably the best point. In a future post I will write about what happened after the war but by that time women's athletics had only to fight for parity and not for their very existence anymore.