THE FEMALE OLYMPIAN: TRADITION VERSUS INNOVATION IN THE QUEST FOR
INCLUSION
Ana Miragaya
Olympic Studies Research Group
Universidade Gama Filho

The Olympic Games of the modern era started officially on April 6, 1896, in Athens
Greece, with the participation of 245 male athletes from 14 nations of the western world.
The main proponent of the Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), a typical man of
his time, chose to follow the tradition of the Ancient Games keeping women out of courts,
fields and other sports arenas and revering the figure of the ancient hero with his own
extraordinary physical and moral virtues. The first modern Olympics did not have any
women athletes, excluding therefore 51% of humanity. However, it is possible to observe a
gradual increase in the number of female Olympians from 1900 to 2000 (from 1.9% in 1900
to 38.3% in 2000 of the total number of athletes)1 and a very small number of womentaking up administrative and management positions in the Olympic Committees after 1981.
This Chapter aims to review and discuss the evolution of the participation of womenin the modern Olympic Games: from total exclusion (0.0% participation) and passivity
prescribed by traditional values and beliefs at the very beginning, in 1896, to partial
inclusion (38.3% participation) pressured by innovation and a change in gender roles
brought about by transformations that occurred during the course of the 20th century.
Empirical contributions will illustrate this theme, which is here primarily seen as interplay
between oppositions.
The inclusion of women in the Olympics came to being done gradually by the womenthemselves as a result of their development and awareness of the new active role they werebeginning to play in the new industrialized society of the second half of the 19th century andduring the whole 20th century. Women were conquering new positions in their countries,
becoming more active, especially struggling to become full citizens with the right to vote. If
women were increasingly calling for a place in the social order, it was not different in the
sport sphere. Slowly women started to get into a realm that did not belong to them in thefirst place and they were beginning to enjoy it. They were streaming from a passive to an
active position.

Sport had always been a male construct in which very rarely did womentake part. Traditional beliefs had always held that physical exertion and competition were
contrary to a woman's nature. Besides, it was believed that the place of the woman was in
the home, taking care of the house and the children, (indoors) and that the place of the man
was outside the home, working as the sole breadwinner of the family (outdoors) 2.
The history of the inclusion of women in sport is identified by some researchers 3, 4, 5
not only as a history of power and male domination over women but also as a history of
inequalities where women always played roles of submission, not being allowed to search forrespect and equality. Other researchers have qualified it as a product of European and North1

American colonialism, a mirror of the games of these regions and not representative of
indigenous peoples of the rest of the world 6. It was a history based on tradition wherechanges and innovation played a very minor role. However, with the advancements ofsociety itself in face of new technology and information, women began to realize that their
history had to be retaken from another perspective: that of innovation, participation, activity
and inclusion. The situation of women in the Olympic Games evolved then from total
exclusion at the very beginning, in 1896, to some inclusion along the years. Women’s
advancement and awareness of their new positioning pressured society to come to a point
where the next quest was not whether women should participate but how women should
participate. In what sports and events and in what other positions, including as officials ininternational and national Olympic bodies, were women to participate actively. The‘permission’ and the extension of this participation are still being prescribed by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) members, the majority of whom are men.

The Tradition of Ancient Olympic Games
Back in Greek times, at the root of all western tradition, Athenians believed thatwomen should be covered up and not seen; therefore, they were not allowed to take part inathletic competitions because they would have to expose themselves.

Moreover, female

bodies were to be conditioned for childbirth. At the same time, the Games of the Goddess
Hera, whose first records date back to 200 B.C., were games that included young,adolescent, and unmarried women athletes in competitions held every four years 7.
The first recorded information of the Ancient Olympic Games dates back to 776 B.C.
They were actually religious festivals in which competitive sports were believed to entertain
the spirits of the dead. Therefore, a period of peace was supposed to happen during theGames. The tribes and cities constantly at war with one another welcomed the month oftruce every four years for the Olympics. It was a welcome recess for everyone, especiallybecause it was thought to please the gods. Although only men were allowed to take part inthe competitions that were held in honor of Zeus, certain women were allowed to watch theGames. These were young unmarried women in search of a husband. They were there towatch the beautiful bodies and talk with their brothers or father about the one man eachwanted as their mate. However, married women were prohibited from attending the
Olympics on penalty of death. The only married woman allowed to watch the games was thePriestess of Demeter 8.
Women, who had been prizes to the winners in the chariot races, were allowed toparticipate indirectly as unofficial competitors in the Olympic Games some centuries later inthe condition of horse owners. For instance, the Spartan princess Kyniska entered her horsein the chariot race in 392 B.C. and won it. It is interesting to observe that the first womenathletes came from Sparta especially because Spartans believed that fit and healthy womenthat exercised regularly would have healthy children. At first this could seem a radically2different thought than that held by the Athenians, who preferred their women covered up
and left to their own passive household routines 8. Actually the Spartans were putting
physical activity to the service of women’s old function of procreation. Women did not play
any role model of heroines in the condition of being active and athletes. Women’s
participation was considered unimportant especially because the ancient Greeks were highly
competitive and believed strongly in the nexus of ‘agon’ or competition for excellence.
The ultimate Greek goal was to be the best by means of comparative conducts andcelebrations. All aspects of life, especially athletics, were centered on this cultural belief.
They valued physical strength, agility, speed, and other physical qualities believed to be
inherent to men only. Because Olympic champions were considered victors, they enjoyedgreat honors and were entitled to receive several privileges such as (i) being given a crownmade from olive leaves (the ‘cotinus’); (ii) having statues made of themselves placed at
Olympia; (iii) having all their meals paid for at the public's expense; (iv) getting front-row
seats at theaters and (v) occupying high offices. Furthermore, because they were believed tobring their cities into favor with the Greek gods, their compatriots pulled down part of thewalls of their original cities for them to enter upon their return. The culture of the victor
developed into the culture of the male hero, which has been carried on throughout the times
from the tradition of the past to the inherited tradition of today’s society 7,8.
On the other hand, women were valued for the quality of children they produced;
therefore, they could not compete or participate in similar physical activities or competitions
as they had been thought of for being very delicate. Women were not heroines because they
did not fulfill the same pre-requisites of Olympic heroes related to size, physical strength,
abilities and skills. On the contrary, seen as weak individuals, women were supposed to stayat home, leading a very passive life. This belief had been cultivated throughout the centuries
and still existed when the Olympic Games were revived by Coubertin. It was then gradually
modified as science evolved to prove that women could follow the same paths men did andstill have children
The Ancient Olympic Games lasted for almost 12 centuries, being abolished only in
394 A.D. by the Christian Emperor Theodosius II not only because of the bitterness of therelations between Greeks and Romans or the brutality and corruption that reigned during theGames but also because he believed that the festivals were pagan. Some years later, theStadium of Olympia, where those events were held, was razed and the Olympic fields pulled
down 8.

The Revival of the Games: Tradition Maintained
During centuries the places where the competitions were held continued to be empty
and prey to floods, earthquakes and thieves. It is possible to say that athletic celebrations
disappeared almost entirely for more than a thousand years until some enthusiasts of theAncient Olympic Games considered reviving them for the first time around 1793, but they3

were unsuccessful. There seemed to be little funding and international coordination to backit up. Then, in 1881, Ernst Curtius, a German archaeologist, directing a research group,
uncovered the ruins of the Stadium of Olympia.
Inspired by the German discovery, Baron Pierre de Coubertin took a personal interestin the archaeological site and especially in the celebration that it evoked due to French
educational and nationalistic claims. His vague proposal for an international sports festival
and competition was initially greeted by blank stares, but in his capacity as generalsecretary of the Union of French Societies of Athletic Sports, he visited colleges, universities,
and private sports clubs, talking to anyone who would listen. Then in 1894, speaking at the
Sorbonne in Paris to a gathering of representatives from nine nations--including the UnitedStates and Russia--he argued for and proposed that the Ancient Games be revived on aninternational scale. With his hearers' approval, he formed the IOC to organize the Olympic
Games and make the rules 9.
Following tradition, the IOC declared that all competing athletes had to be amateurs,
not professionals and decided to hold the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, the original
home of that celebration. Money was raised with personal and public donations and the saleof eight different Olympic postage stamps. However, with the same enthusiasm that hehailed the archaeological finding in Greece and with the same energy that he pushed therevival of the Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin completely kept his coherence with theold Greek tradition when he excluded the women from the Games. He was completely
against the practice of sports and physical activities by women as most men of his times.
According to him, women only had the function of bearing children: "a woman’s glory would
come through the number and quality of children she produced. As far as sports wereconcerned women’s role was to encourage their sons to excel. She was not to seek records
for herself ". The Games were "the solemn periodic manifestation of male sport based oninternationalism, on loyalty as a means, on arts as a background and the applause of womenas a recompense"3. As Lunzenfichter10 reports, Coubertin still claimed that a "female

Olympiad would be impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect" just after receiving
the support of Pope Pius XI, who had seriously condemned the playing of sport by women.
By ruling women out and still keeping traditional values of other people from anotherera, it is possible that Coubertin fired up the ancient Olympic spirit of the male hero, which
has inspired athletes around the world along decades. It is important to observe that thefigure of the male hero was rescued with the revival of the Games and at the expense of the
exclusion of the women. There was no rescue of the figure of the heroine once it did notexist in the Ancient Olympic Games. Neither did Coubertin want to develop the new rolemodel of the heroine. The only role model that was reconstructed was that of the male hero.

The Response of the Women: the Olympian female in the very first Olympic Games4

In spite of Coubertin’s efforts to keep women out of the competitions, there was an
unofficial competitor in the 1896 marathon, a poor Greek woman who became known as‘Melpomene’, whose real name was Stamati Revithi. She was not allowed to compete in the
men’s race, but ran by herself the next day. The final lap was completed outside the stadium
as she had her entry denied. After her marathon run, athletics officials could not remember
her name so they labeled her ‘Melpomene’, who is the Greek muse of Tragedy. Looking at
Stamati Revithi, they could see only tragedy, not her extraordinary feat 11. She had finishedless than two hours after the winner (in four and a half hours) and had beaten some of her
male competitors 3. She was the first innovator to face the barriers of tradition.
The first modern Olympic Games took place at the very end of the 19th century, at atime when the western world was harvesting years of new inventions, hard work andtechnology that would change the face of the 20th century.

Industrialization and social

reform were essential in determining which direction the richest countries such as the UnitedStates and European nations would take from then on. With the evolution of technology andnew inventions being added to the industries that started to flourish, more labor had beennecessary to move the different economies ahead. Women had already started gradually towork outside their home and join the labor force; therefore, they were taking on new roles.
As they began to participate more in the economy of their countries, they wanted to beheard as citizens. They also wanted to vote. Many women organizations were founded to
strive for citizenship. Slowly women were going from a passive to an active position. The endof the 19th century and especially the beginning of the 20th century saw the changes that
also motivated women’s actions in sports.
Although the International Olympic Committee, founded in 1894 in Paris, regulated
over the Olympic activities, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) had to be created in the
different nations that wanted to participate in the Games. In the very beginning, the local
national committees were the ones that organized the Games in their host sites. The Gamesof 1900 and 1904 were connected with World Fairs; therefore, the selection of events to be
included in the Olympic program was mainly in the hands of the fairs' organizing committees
and thus to a large extent beyond the control of the IOC 12. In fact the Olympics were slow
to catch on. The following Games held in Paris in 1900, in Saint Louis in 1904 and in London
in 1908 were sparsely attended and badly organized. That made the inclusion of women inthese Games a little less difficult. However, since the admission of women to these Games
did not have the official consent of the IOC, they did not have their status recognized. As aresult, women competitors were awarded diplomas instead of medals and olive branches 5,
which were supposed to only go to the male heroes. The role model of the female Olympian
was still to be constructed.
Golf and tennis, elite sports, were open to women in the Olympic Games of 1900 in
Paris: 12 women from five countries participated in these two sports or disciplines, in a totalof three events. The Olympic Games of 1904 in Saint Louis only had six female Olympians,

5all American, who participated in archery because the other international female athletes did
not have the financial conditions to buy their way across the ocean to participate in the
Games. Women’s gymnastics was demonstrated but was not considered to be an official
event.
The Olympic Games of 1908 in London had 36 women competing in four sports:
tennis, sailing, ice-skating and archery, all of which sports of high social prestige. The
participation of women was beginning to grow. Although the Olympics of 1912 in Stockholm
had 55 women athletes (2.2% of all competitors) from 11 countries participating in six
eventsoftwosports,includingswimming,

women's

sportsremainedaphenomenon and were still not officially recognized by the IOC. According to Pfister

marginal
12, it wasthe ‘feminist’ Swedes who introduced the swimming competitions in the Olympics, the first
battle of female Olympians for meters and seconds. Swimming was a very popular sport atthat time and considerably contributed to the participation of a greater number of women in
the Games.
It is important to mention that financing has always been an important factor for theparticipation of women in the Games. Not all women have the credibility and the support
they need from the local committees or from sponsors; therefore, it becomes very hard formany women athletes to travel on their own to the places of competition. Most of them do
not work and when they do work, their remuneration tends to be lower than men’s pay. Male
athletes, on the other hand, have more credibility because of tradition; as a result, it iseasier for them to be offered more opportunities. Besides, their income tends to be higher
than that of women, which permits them to make up for traveling investments. The numberof women athletes started to increase as it can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1: Participation of women athletes in the modern Olympic Games 3
Year

SportsEvents Countrie Participant
s

s

Year

SportsEvents Countrie Participant
s

s

1896

-

-

-

-

1956

6

26

39

384

1900

2

3

5

12

1960

6

29

45

610

1904

1

2

1

6

1964

7

33

53

683

1908

2

3

4

36

1968

7

39

54

781

6

1912

2

6

11

57

1972

8

43

65

1058

1920

2

6

13

77

1976

11

49

66

1247

1924

3

11

20

136

1980

12

50

54

1125

1928

4

14

25

290

1984

14

62

94

1567

1932

3

14

18

127

1988

17

86

117

2186

1936

4

15

26

328

1992

19

98

136

2708

1948

5

19

33

385

1996

21

108

169

3626

1952

6

25

41

518

2000

25

300

199

4069

The Inclusion of Women: Different Periods, Different Readingsa. From 1896 to 1928
Hargreaves 4 identifies three periods of women’s participation in the modern Olympic
Games: (1) from 1896 to 1928; (2) from 1928 to 1952 and (3) from 1952 to today.
The first period is characterized by a tradition of exclusion and some efforts to resist
these practices. It was also the time when women were searching for jobs, getting access to
education, fighting to have the right to vote and trying to get adjusted to constant changesof the new society that required new gender roles. This period includes the twenties, when,according to Théberge 5, there was some struggle over the control of women’s international
sport and the form and definition of women’s participation. As progress pushed theindustrialized countries ahead it also went for a change in women’s international sport. Since
the IOC refused to include women’s athletics (American track and field) in the Olympic
Games, the Frenchwoman Alice de Milliat defied the status quo, founded the Fédération
Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) and organized the first Women’s Olympics in 1922.
They were so successful that the Games were held again in 1926, 1930 and 1934 as the
Women’s World Games. They became visible to the IOC especially because of the public
interest women sports received. The Women’s Games were so successful that they not onlypressured the IOC to eventually incorporate them permanently to the Olympic Games after
extensive negotiations and maneuvers 13 but also influenced Women’s Games in Brazil in
1933 14 and in 1949 15 .
Women were beginning to win their battles for inclusion. This can be observed in
Coubertin’s words when he left the IOC presidency in 1925: "I remain hostile to theparticipation of women in the Games. They have been admitted to a growing number of
events against my wishes" 10.
It was still during the period 1896-1928 that two main debates about women’s
involvement in sport came up. They would influence the view over women’s sport andwomen’s participation in the Olympics for a long time. The first one, still based on tradition

7

and then related to the poor and limited medical wisdom of the time, with no evidence that
could prove it, promoted beliefs in women’s natural frailty and condemned vigorous physicalactivity as dangerous to women’s health and well being. As a result, along the editions of theGames, women’s participation in athletics and other sports was done on a limited basis
according to a model of what was considered the ideal of female frailty prescribed by male
doctors. As winds of the past were still blowing, women were excluded from the strength
events in athletics and only gradually were women’s team events introduced into the Games.
The second debate was about the control of women’s sport, which was new to society
and to the women themselves. According to tradition, the active positions of commandshould belong to men and not to women, who were supposed to obey and be passive.
Struggles were waged over who would control women’s national and international sport andwhat would be the form and definition of women’s participation. To follow tradition, womencontinued to have no control of their own participation in national or international sport.
Summing up, it is possible to say that the events of the 1920s and then of the 1930s
had two essential meanings which were both cultural and social: (1) definition and meaningof women’s sports based on biological differences and (2) the control of the organization of
women’s sports as an Olympic male dominant function.

b. From 1928 to 1952
The two meanings above were carried on throughout the second phase. Hargreaves 4
identified the period between 1928 and 1952 as one of consolidation and struggle. It wasexactly during this period that women fought to be seen and to consolidate their position as
sportswomen. This was a new concept not only to women but to society as a whole. Women
were in a very complex situation that demanded the development of role models for women
who practiced sports and that went to the Olympic Games. Their only role models had beenmale heroes. They were then in a crossroads which pointed to two different directions. They
were either to follow previously established models or to construct new female role models
from scratch. Due to the limited basis of access to Olympic sports that had been set by the
IOC in 1928, women seemed to have chosen the first alternative.
Even though women had taken another little step, they wanted to guarantee theirrole as active participants in sport and in society. This positioning was strengthened during
the 40s as women had be mobilized to take up posts left by men who had to go to thebattlefields in Europe. As a result of the World War II, there were no Olympic Games in 1940
or 1944. The massive direct and indirect participation and more inclusion of women in theeconomy of their countries at war greatly contributed for women’s new positioning in theirsociety and their awareness of the place they occupied.
During this time, the model of women’s sport based on biological differences between
the sexes which had been constructed in the thirties was also taken to school sport
programs and ended up limiting the way women looked at their own athleticism. At the end

8

of this period, female participation in the Olympic Games became a fact, but the gains
women had made were conservative because the model of women’s sport that had been
adopted conformed to the ideal of feminine athleticism and its cultural significance was still
to reinforce the myth of female frailty 5. It is then possible to observe society’s maintenanceof women’s traditional functions.

c. After 1952
However, according to Hargreaves 4, 1952 starts a period of challenge to male andmasculine hegemony in Olympic sport especially because of two events. This fact did notmean that gender relations would be reconstructed to make up for past inequalities.

Itmeant rather that women found other ways to fight exclusion, tradition, passivity, and thechores imposed by society to then try to reach their objectives of inclusion, innovation,
activity, and design of new roles in the fast changing world. Let us, then, analyze the recent
past and the changes detected in the 2000 Olympiad.

( i ) Two events
The first event was the entry of the Soviet Union and other countries of the east bloc
as new participants in the expansion of the Games that took place in Helsinki, Finland, in thispost World War II era. These countries were gender blind. They had culturally different
traditions as well as objectives. They had included women their own way a long time ago.
Since they placed a premium on athletic success with little attention to the gender of thewinners, they had made a large material and social investment on the training of theirathletes for the Games. As a result, the number of participating women athletes went from
385 in 1948 to 518 in 1952 (see Table 1) and the new women athletes became visible
because they had had training for that. It was part of their education in schools and colleges
16. The number of medals was the most important thing for them. Table 2 shows thenumber of medals the U.S.S.R. got from 1912 to 1960. Even when the countries that madeup the former U.S.S.R. started competing individually in the Olympic Games, the number of
medals was still more important than the gender of the athletes who earned them, as seenin Table 3.
Whenever an athlete regardless of gender was a gold winner, the national anthem of
his or her country was played and the flag was raised, making that visible to the world 6. It
was already the Cold War. The number of medals meant how many times these countries
were honored with victories. Once the eastern world had discovered a new way of becoming
visible and of making political propaganda, the western countries were forced out of concern
for their own Olympic standing to pay greater attention to the participation and performanceof women and to invest on their training and preparation. Women benefited from thesituation, became innovators, and started increasing their participation numbers.

9

Table 2: Medals won by the U.S.S.R. in Olympic Games 16
Year

Location

MedalsGold

SilverBronzeTOTALClassification

1912

Stockholm

0

2

3

5

16

1952

Helsinki

22

30

19

71

2

1956

Melbourne

37

29

32

98

1

1960

Rome

43

29

31

103

1

Obs. The U.S.S.R. did not participate in the Olympic Games of 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932,
1936 and 1948.

Table 3: Medals won by countries of the former U.S.S.R. in the Olympic Games,
Sydney 2000 16
Country

Number of medals
Gold

SilverBronzeTOTALClassification

Countries of the former U.S.S.R.

48

48

67

163

1

U.S.A.

39

25

33

97

2

Russia

32

28

28

88

3

The second event took place in the 1960s: the women’s movement in North America
and Europe as a consequence of scientific and technological development not only becauseof the need for more accurate training and specialized nutrition but also because of theinvention of the birth-control pill, which helped women fight traditional approaches, control
their own sexual life, and plan their families. The new roles played by women during andafter the World War II added to the science advances and produced a re-thinking of
women’s position in society and a challenge to traditional ideas about gender roles. As aresult of this new positioning, it was possible to observe an increase in the participation of
the women in sports and soon enough concern with gender inequality in sport gained
prominence.

10

( ii ) The Sydney Games
There has been a steady increase in the number of female Olympians. It might seemthat women have achieved positions of equality in relation to representation in terms ofnumbers. The 2000 Games women athletes (4,069) were 38.3% of the total number ofathletes (10,651) 1. If the objective is to reach 52.0% as proposed by Lucas 17, there is stilla long way ahead.
It is also important to look at the different types of events that have been added to
the Games in recent years. They show that there still is some sort of ambivalence about themeaning of women’s sport. On the one hand, events such as women’s distance events(marathon and 10000-meter race), multiple events that combine running, jumping, andthrowing competitions and team sports (volleyball, basketball, field hockey) have been
added in recent years, challenging the myth of female frailty, but still following the
traditional model of the male hero. On the other hand, sports such as synchronizedswimming, rhythmic gymnastics and artistic gymnastics, which emphasize traditionallyfeminine desirable qualities and characteristics, maintaining the myth of female frailty havebeen included. There are no male Olympians in these disciplines as they reinforce thesupposed traditional feminine qualities. As a result, the public gets an ambiguous message.
At the same time that Olympic sports and events emphasize the performances of the female
Olympian as a product of remarkable skill and ability, they also provide symbolic
confirmation of the special nature of women’s sport due to their emphasis on beauty, form,
and appearance 5.
This tendency is reflected in some countries. In Taiwan, for instance, women athletes
as role models prove that feminine grace, intelligence, focus, power and perseverance blend
perfectly together to achieve brawn, brain and beauty. In Hungary, at the same time womenparticipated in competitions and in the“women’s sport day”, they received beautician

advice and could test the latest beauty products 16. In Korea, all they need is for men tohave a powerful physique and well-developed muscle and, for women, a slender andglamorous figure 16.
Although women have come a long way from the exclusion due to tradition and topartial inclusion because of innovation, they have come short of their objectives to reachequality in spite of their differences. They are still striving to be respected and to have equal
footing by being biologically different. Women are still under-represented and have fewer
opportunities as far as the Olympic Games are concerned. In the Sydney Olympics, although
there were nine countries that sent teams with no women athletes and 42 countries thatsent teams with just one woman, 13 small delegations had more female than male
Olympians and 36 countries sent the same number of female and male athletes (Table 4),
but no country sent only women. All of the 199 nations and the athletes of Oriental Timor
had male athletes.

11Table 4: Olympian females in the 27th Olympics in Sydney,2000 9No
femaleathletesSame
number of
male andfemaleathletesOne
woman
athleteMorefemalethan maleathletes

Africa

2

14

19

3

America

1

6

7

3

Asia

6

10

7

4

Europe0331Oceania

0

3

6

2

Total

9

36

42

13

This still under-representation of women seen in the Sydney Games (6,582 males and4,069 female Olympians) can also be observed in the fact that countries tend to invest on
the preparation of the female Olympians only at the disciplines that will be up forcompetition during the Games, leaving out possibilities of new sports and new disciplines 6.
This can be reflected in the society and in the daily habits of the population of thosecountries. As the different nations and cultures increase the number of sports open to
women, there will be more women engaged in a variety of sports and disciplines, and moredisciplines will then become available to women worldwide.

Women in administrative positions
Women are also under-represented in the administration of Olympic affairs. The first
women were appointed to the IOC only in 1981. Currently the IOC includes five women and
89 men. Similar patterns hold on the NOCs 11, 5. Still due to traditional beliefs that womenshould have a very low profile, should play a role of passivity and submission, and should
not share positions of power with men, women very seldom occupy leadership positions intheir workplaces and in the political lives of their countries. As a result, there tends to be
fewer women in administrative positions, especially when these positions are related to
power.
However, it is important to point out that some countries have been trying to adopt
different policies in relation to admitting women to positions of command. As an example, in
1998, the Taiwan's NOC was reorganized with an increased number of female members tomeet the IOC regulation by the end of December of 2000. At least ten percent of positions in
the NOC decision-making structures have been reserved for women in order to allow them to12make a sufficient contribution to the evolution of sport and the Olympic movement. In
addition, this NOC sends women delegates at every opportunity to take part in the IOCendorsed international conferences and seminars for the development of sports for womenwith a view to enriching our experience in developing the role of women in sport fields 16.
According to Schneider 18 and following the parallel she drew between women in
Plato’s Republic and women in the Olympics, women have moved in to the position of
warriors or athletes and are now trying to become guardians or rulers.
As Schneider 18 explains it, even being aware of the biological differences between
men and women, Plato proposed that both men and women can and should follow the samerange of occupations and perform the same functions. “What is then required as much formen as it is for women is an education that fosters aptitudes and encourages all people tostrive for excellence. If women are to be guardians they must be educated as guardians – inexactly the same way as men. This is the environment we currently lack. While women often
have the natural aptitude to pursue excellence in sports and politics (men’s world), they areoften denied access to education and models they need to see their dreams can become
real. It is clear that for Plato, to not have women guardians or administrators, and to nothave women warriors or athletes, is harmful to us as human beings and is therefore
shameful” 18.
With the technology that has been developed in these last decades, people aroundthe world tend to have access to information through the availability of mass media. As
athletes tend to be more visible than administrators, it may be hard for societies, especiallywomen in many countries, to realize that it is possible for a woman to become a ruler insports as well. This is one more argument to reinforce Plato’s theory of education, whichemphasizes that for society to get the most from both men and women, it should offer thesame education to enable them to perform the same functions. Therefore, new role models
for women will then be constructed, adapted to the reality of the 21st century, enabling
women to get to the crossroads and empowering them to choose the road not taken.

Women in Sport for All
The number of women who participate in the Olympic Games can also be explainedby the number of women who practice some sport and the kind of sport they practice in thefive continents 16. The following approach exposes empirical contribution to the debate on
account of an international comparative research developed by Lamartine DaCosta and I
involving 36 countries.
The very recent book Worldwide Experiences and Trends in Sport for All 16 is the final
result of this cross-national study, which displays data related to countries that privilege
women in sport activities (Table 5) and offer programs that encourage sports practicethrough NOCs (Table 6).

13

Table 5: Number of countries in SFA that privilege
women18
Continents

Countries

and

with

Total
number of

NumberCountries

sports withofno countries

programs

sportsfor women

women

for that do notevenmentioncountries

women
Asia (8)611Africa (2)

1

-

1

Europe (17)

12

2

2

Latin

-

2

5

2

-

-

21

5

9

America (7)North
America (2)Total

The data above clearly shows that from the 36 countries that took part in the
research project, more than half

(21=58%) offer programs of sports for women, while 5

nations mention women and 9 countries do not offer programs for women (Table 5). Somecountries have contributed with specific data such as Spain (Table 6) and Denmark (Table 7).

Table 6: % of Sport Participation in Spain: 1968
– 1995 16
Years

196 197 198 198 199 199
8
4
0
5
0
5

Total

%

12.3 17.7

25

34

35

39

Sex

Men

18.3 22.7

33

46

42

48

Women

6.8

17

23

26

32

12.8

Table 7: Proportion of Danish population (age 16-74)
actively involved in sport or exercise (%) in 1964, 1975,
1987, 1993 and 1998 16.

14

1964

1975

1987

1993

1998

All

15

29

42

47

51

Men

21

31

43

47

51

Women

11

27

42

47

51

16-19

53

52

61

67

67

20–29

27

41

48

56

59

30-39

17

41

46

49

51

40-49

10

25

44

49

51

50-59

5

21

31

42

46

60-69

3

11

30

36

47

70-74

2

13

24

30

37

Other countries that support sports for women are (1) Hungary, with the first“women’s sport day” organized in 1997; (2) Singapore, with the annual National Sports
Carnival for Women, the International Folk and Recreation Dance Night, and the firstever Women and Sport Conference in March 1999 to discuss issues pertaining to womenand sports; (3) Israel, where there are very successful walking events exclusively for
women; (4) Australia, where nearly 60% of women between 18 and 54 years of age now
engage in some form of regular physical activity; and (5) France, which developed theFrench Federation of Physical Education and Voluntary Gymnastics (FFEPGV), mostly
managed in national scope and locally developed by women, successfully reaching thenumber of 5 million participants, bringing the French Sport for All to the desired
approach of the Council of Europe 16.
Significantly enough, the continents that sent the most women to the 2000 Olympics
in terms of proportions were Oceania (44.96%), Asia (40.26%) and Europe (36.96%).
The number of women involved in sports also depends directly on the incentive eachcountry gives to the preparation of athletes to the Olympic Games. It is possible to observe
the influence of NOCs in the SFA initiative. Table 8 displays information related to thenations that encourage participation in SFA via Olympic Games. 16 out of the 36 countries
that participated in the project Worldwide Experiences and Trends in SFA 16 promote andencourage participation in the Olympic movement through SFA.

Table 8: Number of countries that encourage Sport for
All through Olympism 16

15

Continents

Countries

Countries

Countries

and

with

with somewith noOlympic

work done

Olympic

incentives

by the NOCs

activity

Asia (8)414Africa (2)

-

1

1

Europe (17)

8

4

5

Latin

2

2

3

2

-

-

16

8

13

Total
number ofcountries

America (7)North
America (2)TotalCountries such as Belgium, Finland, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Taiwan, France andKorea have had several initiatives to promote Olympism through SFA 16. The Belgian
Olympic Committee (BOIC) also adopted the Sport for All philosophy. Based on Olympic
ideas and values, it promoted SFA in a strange mixture of principles and aims we refer to as‘Allympism’: the combination of Sport for All and Olympism, the two major but contrasting
sport ideologies, performance and excellence on the one hand and participation andinclusion on the other, trying to capitalize on each other’s success, thereby creating themixed concept of ‘Allympism’ 16.
Another example is Taiwan, whose Olympic Committee has been placing equal
emphasis on Sport for All in its role as a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to promote
people’s good health and physical fitness. The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) by
taking the advantage of its publication, Olympic Quarterly, arouses women’s interest in
participating in Sport for All activities and encourages the civilian organizations to organize
more sport activities for women 16.

16In the case of France, it was only in 1972, under the influence of the programs that
had been set up by the Scandinavian countries, that the French National Olympic andSporting Committee (CNOSF) decided for the establishment of the first Sport for All
program, initiated by Martin Grünenwald, a physical education teacher16.
In Korea, the 88 Seoul Olympics Organizing Committee originated the Seoul Olympic
Sports Promotion Foundation, which has implemented many projects to develop andpublicize Sport for All programs, sponsored the National Council of Sport for All, anddeveloped programs to promote national fitness 16.
When top sport is connected with SFA, it is usually for the purpose of recruiting
future top sport talent, spectators or recreational participants.

For example, the U.S.

National Olympic Committee is totally focused on top sport and on Sport for All activities
that attract young talent.

Organizations associated with the U.S. Olympic Committee dohave sport programs for more general populations 16.
At the same time that the social limitations of women in their original countries andthe roles they play in their societies, very much based on traditions and ancient beliefs of
exclusion and complete separated and pre-defined tasks, block their access to sports andphysical activities in general, this exclusion also contributes to the creation of some ideal of
the female Olympian of the future. This virtual image has become clearer for women every
four years as the media make female Olympians visible and encourage young girls andwomen to develop role model figures in sports and to fight for some sports ideal.
Technology, and especially, television have made this possible for women around the world.
The tradition of exclusion is becoming the innovation of inclusion in a variety of sports.
Summing up, the more encouragement women have from national and international
programs related or not related to the practices of the IOC and the NOCs throughavailability of resources, political incentives, women-friendly policies and strong examples ofleadership, the more girls and women will feel compelled to adhere to sports and to Olympic
sports. As a result, the levels of participation will rise and probably reach the so muchdesired 52%.

The Future
While biological and physiological contexts can offer conditions to better interpret thedifferences between the sexes, adding more sports and events to women athletes’ agendas,17

cultural and social contexts continue to show the differences and inequalities between thegenders.
It is questionable that Britain, Germany, Australia, the United States, and Russia
increase their numbers of women representatives without, at the same time, Central andSouth America, Africa and all Islamic nations also sending female athletes. As the world ofsport reflects society, it may take some more time before Islamic societies, economicallyunderdeveloped areas of the world, and a certain small number of countries in which the
Catholic Church has traditionally compartmentalized boys and girls to play out very specificroles open up space for equality in sports and positions linked to sports. Ancient culture andcustoms must be respected; deep-rooted beliefs cannot be disregarded. Tradition in thesense of exclusion should be re-analyzed by the different leaderships to be dealt withdifferently. It is essential to consider that sport is a birthright as it belongs to all humanbeings, men and women, boys and girls. Biological differences have to be respected forhuman kind to achieve social equality, especially in sport. Physical activity and sports arepart of human rights and should be included in all practices.
The elusive goal of Olympic leadership is for women from every country to participate
in the Olympic Games as athletes, coaches and administrators and also as representative
offices in the NOCs, in the sport federations, and in the IOC. Increasing the number offemale administrators in the worldwide movement is an even challenging task as each nation
moves at its own speed toward equal opportunities for both sexes according to eachindividual context. Somehow more talented women must find their way into local, national,
and international administrative sporting positions and, exactly as men do, over time, moveup the ladder.
According to Schneider 18, "any organization that claims human development as oneof its principal goals must support the full representation of women at all levels of theorganization. To deny women our proper place – alongside men as equals and partners is
wrong and shameful".
New policies of encouragement for sportswomen will have a very positive impact on
the profile of the female Olympian and her role model in society. For the first time women in
the sports areas will be able to make their choices at the crossroads. They will either choose
and follow the male hero pathways or develop their own female constructs as a heroines andleaders regardless of their position in the world of sports as sportswomen, administrators,
managers, NOCs officers, IOC members or even IOC president. They will be aware of thatthey also have the right to sport and physical activity and will feel empowered to take anyof the roads.

Conclusion
Looking back to 1896, it is possible to observe that women have progressed a lot intheir challenges and struggles. They fought very bravely to enter men’s sphere and have18

succeeded in many aspects. They have conquered their citizenship and their inclusion in the
Olympic Games but have not yet reached equality in terms of numbers. Have they become
heroes, heroines or mediators 19? Have they achieved the position of equilibrium yet?
It would have been unthinkable a few years ago that women would compete in themarathon and the 10000-meter race or play basketball with the skill, dedication and powerof women Olympians of the 2000s. At the same time, it would be vary hard to imagine thatwomen would sit on the IOC or head a National Olympic Committee although the extent ofchange in the administrative and organizational levels has not been so dramatic as among
participants. There are still some barriers to overcome, the most crucial of which is to share
the power with the male figures that represent the traditions of sport. Women havequestioned traditional roles and become more aware of their place in the third millennium.
They have come a long way to thinking of their biological differences as part of themselvesthat would allow them to compete in their own terms but having the same opportunities asmen.
It is important to mention that the innovation brought about by the inclusion of
women in the modern Olympic Games pressured science and technology for research andnew discoveries that have shown that women can in fact do more than they had thought
they could: not only in terms of those athletes who participate in the Olympics but also forthe common women in terms of exercising and taking up any kind of physical activity topractice. The pressure women have made to have the right to participate in the Olympics as
human beings has greatly contributed for the right women have now to participate in sports
and physical activity.
More female role models would be needed to provide encouragement for girls in
sport, and this means there will be the role models in all domains: in the family and school,
high-level coaching, Olympic committees, government officials concerned with sport,
athletics and so on.
The female Olympian is a model. The future challenges become clearer because they
will contrast against this model. It is necessary to consolidate equality of rights anddifferences in the practices and education for all seems to be the only way out. Women willthen feel they have the same rights and will know which road to take. Will this stance
represent a significant example of how to search a balanced conflict-resolution when dealing
with oppositions in the Olympic Movement?

NOTES
1. Carvalho, A. (2002). A Participação Feminina nos Jogos Olímpicos – unpublishedpaper presented at the Fórum Olímpico, Universidade Gama Filho, June 2002.
2. Miragaya, A & DaCosta, L. (1997). Atividades físicas sistemáticas e a mulher:
inclusão no lazer, na família e no trabalho (unpublished paper).

19

3. DeFrantz, A. (1997). The Changing Role of Women in the Olympic Games. Paper
presented at the 37th International Session for Young Participants - IOA Report,
Ancient Olympia.
4. Hargreaves, J. (1994). Women and the Olympic phenomenon. In Tomlinson A,
Whannel G (eds) Five Ring Circus. London: Pluto Press, pp 53-70.
5. Théberge, N. (1991). Women and the Olympic Games: a consideration of gender,
sport and social change. In Landry, F., Landry, M. & Yerlès, M. ( eds), Sport ... The
Third Millenium, Les Presses de l' Université Laval, Sainte - Foy - Canada, pp. 385 396.
6. Boutilier, M. & Giovanni, L. (1991) Ideology, Public Policy and Female Olympic
Achievement: a Cross-National Analysis of the Seoul Olympic Games. In Landry, F.,
Landry, M. & Yerlès, M (eds), Op. Cit., pp. 397 - 412.
7. The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games. Recovered on May 14, 2002 from theInternet at (www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/olympicsexism.html).
8. The Olympic Games in the Ancient Hellenic World: A Virtual Museum. Recovered on
May

14,

2002

from

the

Internet

at(http://minbar.cs.dartmouth.edu/greecom/olympics/).
9. The International Olympic Committee. Recovered on May 14, 2002 from the Internet(www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp).
10. Luzenfichter, A. (1996). Women and Olympism. International Olympic Academy.
Paper presented at the 36th International Session for Young Participants - IOA Report,
Ancient Olympia.
11. Olympic

Women.

Recovered

on

May

14,

2002

from

the

Internet(www.olympicwomen.co.uk/).
12. Pfister, G. Journal of the International Council for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation, Sport and Dance 32 (1996), No. 4, pp. 20-26.
13. DeFrantz, A. (1991). Progress Made, Pitfalls and Conditions for Further Advancementof Women in the Olympic Movement. In Landry, F., Landry, M. & Yerlès, M. (eds), Op.
Cit., pp. 413 - 418.
14. Tavares, O. Women’s Games in Brazil in 1933 (research in progress).
15. Mourão, L. & Soares, A. (1999). 1949 – 1972 Duração das Olimpíadas Femininas no
Brasil via Jornal dos Sports - Rio de Janeiro. In Tavares, O & DaCosta, L. (eds)
Estudos Olímpicos, Editora Gama Filho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: pp.98-107.
16. DaCosta, L. & Miragaya, A. (2002). Worldwide Experiences and Trends in Sport forAll. Aachen: Meyer & Meyer, pasin
17. Lucas, J. (1999). The Future of the Olympic Games. Champaign: Human Kinetics, pp
133-143.

20

18. Schneider, A. (1996). Women in the Republic and the Olympic Movement. Paper
presented at the 36th International Session for Young Participants - IOA Report,
Ancient Olympia.
19. see Tavares, O. (2002). The Olympic Athlete: Hero or Mediator, chapter 12.5

21