Women are barred from the first modern Gaines.
Women are invited to compete in tennis, golf and yachting. The first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal is golfer Margaret Abbott.
57 women from 11 nations compete in swimming, diving and tennis. Australia’s “Fanny” Durack captures the gold in the 100-meter freestyle.
American women swimmers win seven out of nine medals.
jeux Feminines, an allwomen’s Gaines, is introduced and held in 1922 and 1923.
Women’s track-andfield events premiere; 18-year-old Canadian Ethel Catherwood, “The Saskatoon Lily,” wins a gold medal in the high jump.
Legendary athlete “Babe” Didrikson, from Texas, wins golds in the javelin and 80-meter hurdles.
Women are shut out of Hitler’s new Olympic village. Womern’s gymnastics debut as an official event.
Alice Coachman becomes the first African-American woman to win a gold.
American Pat McCormick captures gold medals in springboard and platform diving.
Larissa Latynina of the Soviet Union begins her domination of gymnastics. She won 18 medals between 1956 and 1964.
American Wilma Rudolph breaks the world for 100- and 200-meter sprints.
American Wyomia Tyus wins the 100-meter sprint. In 1968, she becomes the first person to successfully defend an Olympic sprint title.
Russian gymnast Olga Korbut, 17 years old and 4'11", captures three golds and a silver.
14-year-old Romanian Nadia Comaneci scores the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastic history. The drug-enhanced East German women’s swim team takes 11 of 13 golds and sets eight world records.
American Joan Benoit wins the first women’s marathon and Mary Lou Retton captures the gymnastic all-round-event.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee wins a gold in the heptathlon. Her sister-in-law Florence Griffith Joyner wins three golds.
About 3,700 women will compete in the 1996 Games. And yes, that’s a record.
1896: 0% women 1924: 4.4% women 1936: 8.1% 1964: 13.3% 1976: 20.7% 1984: 23.1% 1992: 28.9% 1996: 36.5% (projected)
