OLYMPICS
The story of women in the modern Olympic Games is one of a protracted struggle for acceptance. When the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896, women were not permitted to compete. The all male International Olympic Committee (IOC) was very against female participation. In fact, the IOC was an all-male preserve until 1981.However there was an unofficial female competitor in the first games. She was a marathon runner who ran by herself and was nicknamed Melpomene, the name of the Greek muse of tragedy.
In the next Olympics in 1900, women competed in the ballooning, yachting, equestrianism, croquet, tennis and golf events. In the 1904 Olympics, women's boxing was included. The first woman to become an Olympic gold medallist was British tennis player in 1900.
In 1912 a fifteen year old British schoolgirl entered the modern pentathlon event in the Stockholm Olympic Games, but her entry was rejected.
It was athletics that proved to be the toughest hurdle of all. So frustrated were they that women even held their own Olympic Games in the early 1920s. Finally in the Amsterdam games of 1928, women participated in five athletic events though the formidable British team boycotted the games. The first track and field gold medal winner was sixteen year old American Betty Robinson for the 100 metres. The first women's marathon wasn't held until the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The 2000 Olympics in Sydney introduced female participation in water polo, pole vaulting, trampoline, synchronized diving and hammer throwing.