It took more than a century for women to fully earn their place at the modern Olympic Games.
27.07.2024, 09:59
27.07.2024, 10:00
SDA
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- Over 5,000 women take part in the Olympic Games in Paris - the same number as men for the first time.
- The first Olympic Games took place in 1896 without women. In 1924, 135 women took part in the second edition of the Summer Games, including the Swiss sailor Ella Maillart.
- The proportion of women on the Olympic committees has also increased. Today, 41 percent of IOC members are women.
At the premiere in Athens in 1896, there were zero female participants, four years later in Paris there were just over 20. This year, however, more than 5,000 women are taking part in the French capital - the same number as men for the first time ever.
With this development, the women have proven Pierre de Coubertin wrong. During his lifetime, the father of the modern Olympic Games and President of the International Olympic Committee until 1925 did not hesitate to express his disapproval of women's participation in the Olympic Games in very misogynistic terms.
"Uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect"
He did not consider such participation to be useful, but rather "uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect", the Frenchman told the Olympic Review in 1912. De Coubertin's attitude was that women could practise sport - if it was graceful and feminine - but should not do so in public.
At that time, however, it was not the task of the IOC President but rather of the organizing committee to propose women's competitions. The door opened for these in Paris in 1900. Women could take part in tennis and golf as well as in three mixed sports - sailing, croquet and horse riding. The first female medal winner at the Olympic Games in an individual competition was Charlotte Cooper. The Brit won gold in tennis.
First Swiss woman at the Olympic Games
In 1924, at the second edition of the Summer Games in Paris, 135 women took part - out of almost 3,000 men. Women competed in tennis, swimming and diving as well as fencing for the first time. Switzerland's Ella Maillart was also the first woman to compete in a sailing competition.
The situation changed after the resignation of de Coubertin as IOC President. In 1928 in Amsterdam, women were also allowed to compete in athletics and gymnastics. However, it would take until London 2012 - and the inclusion of women's boxing - for women to be eligible to compete in all sports.
The proportion of women on Olympic committees has also increased. Today, 41 percent of IOC members are women. However, the presidency of the committee was previously reserved for men only.
