"The female abdominal organs wither" - how women's sport became Olympic 100 years ago

An unusual sight marveled at the fine society on March 24, 1921 in Monte Carlo: instead of strolling in the spring sunshine in the French Riviera in calf-length dresses and hats, women in T-shirts and shorts sat on the lawn in the garden of the casino.

Even more: They sprinted against each other, jumped over hurdles, practiced javelin throw and even shot put.

Around 100 athletes from five countries had come to the "Jeux Olympiques Féminins", the first Olympic Games for women.

By March 31, the athletes from France, Great Britain, Italy, Norway and Sweden competed in ten athletics disciplines.

In addition, they showed their talent in basketball, gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics as well as pushball: a game in which two teams had to maneuver a human-sized ball into the opposing field.

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Sports Rowing Pioneer: Alice Milliat

The competitions were such a success that they were held again in 1922.

By 1934 there were a total of seven international sports competitions for women, initially as the "Olympics for Women" and later as the "Women's World Games".

The brain behind the competitions: Alice Milliat from France.

Please only sweat privately

"Through the fearless efforts of this woman and her companions, Olympic officials were forced to recognize that women in international sport wanted to compete against each other and represent their countries just as men did at the Olympic Games," write Mary H. Leigh and Thérèse Bonin in a research paper on the role of women's sports pioneers around Milliat.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially placed little emphasis on women's sports.

The first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 were, as in ancient times, a purely men's business.

Four years later women were allowed to compete in golf and tennis, in 1904 in archery, in 1908 in figure skating.

And in 1912 they made their swimming debut.

But they were excluded from athletics.

IOC President Pierre de Coubertin is said to have been horrified by the sight of sweating female tobogganers in England.

Women should only do sport for health reasons, and if possible in private.

"Coubertin's attitude corresponded to the moral image of the time, in his convictions he agreed with most IOC members," explains Ansgar Molzberger, who conducts research at the Institute for Sports History at the Cologne Sports University.

Tennis in floor-length clothes

The members of the IOC belonged to the upper class - and there, women's sports only took place in golf and tennis clubs: women athletes competed on the tennis court in floor-length clothes and initially with hats.

“You can't play a game like that.

In this case, social morality with its dress code has slowed down the development of women in the sport, ”says Molzberger.

Doctors had declared women's sport to be dangerous.

As late as 1931, the Leipzig gynecologist Hugo Sellheim argued: "Too much male-model sport [is] masculinized and the female abdominal organs wither."

The sports pioneers did not allow themselves to be stopped.

While skepticism still prevailed in Germany with its gymnastics tradition at the beginning of the 20th century, a sports scene for women developed in France.

The Parisian club "Fémina Sport" made women's football known from 1912, even with a first championship.

Club members could also practice athletics, basketball, field hockey, rowing or cycling.

After Alice Milliat initially rowed in the club, she became president in 1915.

“Fémina Sport” founded the umbrella organization for French women's sports FSFSF with the Parisian sports club “En Avant” and organized competitions.

Milliat was first treasurer of the FSFSF, then president from 1919 and turned to the IOC with a request to allow women in athletics at the 1924 Olympics.

The answer: no.

The French women therefore decided to organize an international competition themselves.

Camille Blanc supported them: The son of the casino founder François Blanc and President of the International Sports Club of Monaco made the casino garden available to them.

"Everything a man can do, Violette can too"

Violette Morris, multi-athlete

English and French women dominated the first women's Olympic Games.

Violette Morris took gold in the javelin and shot put.

The Frenchwoman also tried every other sport - swimming, boxing, wrestling, car racing.

Her motto: "Everything a man can do, violets too." The British Mary Lines won gold in the 60-meter run and the 250-meter run in 1921, and a year later she set a world record in the relay race.

Milliat's efforts gave women's sport a stage when the image of women in society was changing: in World War I they had taken over the work of men;

after the war they fought for the right to vote in England, Germany and the USA.

The women's games startled the keepers of men's sport.

The IOC, according to Molzberger, "was annoyed that the use of the title 'Olympic' scratched its monopoly" - and that the event should run annually instead of every four years.

That is why it was called the »Women's World Games« in 1922, hosted by the International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI) in Paris with around 20,000 spectators.

Sweden's King Gustav V opened the competition four years later in Gothenburg. Kinue Hitomi was the only Japanese athlete to compete in six of twelve disciplines, including a world record in the long jump, and single-handedly secured Japan fifth place out of nine participating countries.

Because women's sport was gaining in popularity, the IOC allowed women to participate in five athletics disciplines on a trial basis at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam: over 100 and 800 meters, in the 4x100-meter relay, in high jump and discus throwing.

In the 800-meter run, an athlete crossed the finish line when she tried to catch up with a competitor.

A New York gossip sheet claimed several female athletes fainted.

The New York Times wrote: "The final of the women's 800-meter run, in which Ms. Lina Radke from Germany set a world record, clearly demonstrated that even this distance demands too much of female strength." 800-meter run for women again - and that even until 1960.

After the disappointment in Amsterdam, the FSFI organized the Women's World Games in Prague in 1930 and in London in 1934.

When the federation already had 30 member countries in 1936, the IOC took control of the women's athletics competitions.

At the 1936 Berlin Games, women competed in six disciplines before World War II forced a break.

The Olympic Games did not take place again until 1948;

Women were allowed for the first time in the 200-meter run, the shot put and the long jump.

Totally dehydrated to the finish line

In the history of the Olympic Games "women had to fight for their right to start over a long period of time, one sport at a time," says Molzberger.

Football and boxing were only opened to women at the Olympic level in 1996 and 2012, and ski jumping only in 2014.

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Boston Marathon: start number 261 - the forbidden woman by Heiko Oldbod

For decades, sports officials believed that women were not capable of top physical performance.

For example, "your uterus could fall out when you run" - Kathrine Switzer, for example, told of such myths.

The American runner wrote sports history because she became the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon with an official start number in 1967.

When the angry race boss tried to bump her off the track, he was pushed away himself: by Switzer's friend, a hammer thrower.

The marathon for women only became Olympic in 1984. With an incident that caused a sensation: The Swiss Gabriela Andersen-Schiess had missed the last water station before the finish and entered the stadium in Los Angeles, severely dehydrated.

The Swiss woman was mentally fit, but her muscles did not obey her: the body leaning to one side, the runner lurched from one side of the track to the other.

When a doctor wanted to rush to her help, she chased him away: If he had touched or supported her, she would have been disqualified.

It was only after she had crossed the finish line that she fell exhausted into the arms of the medical staff and was cooled with wet towels.

“I clearly remember the cheers and the noise.

It was amazing, so loud.

I didn't expect that, ”says Andersen-Schiess later.

The audience applauded the woman's irrepressible will with a standing ovation.