Monday, 01 September 2008
IAAF celebrates 80 Years of Women Athletics at the Olympic Games
Monte Carlo – The IAAF is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the first participation of women athletes at the Olympic Games with an exclusive photo exhibition offering 53 exceptional images of our sport’s most famous and charismatic women athletes.
An initiative of the IAAF Women’s Committee, the photo exhibition has been organized in close-cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, and will be showcased in Brussels, Stuttgart and Monaco.
Opening today, the exhibition will remain in the official ÅF Golden League headquarters hotel in Brussels until Friday 5 September before travelling to the host city of the IAAF/VTB World Athletics Final. It will be showcased in the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadium until Sunday 14 September before travelling back to the IAAF headquarters in Monaco.
From Athlete of the Century Fanny Blankers-Koen to IAAF Council Member Nawal El Moutawakel, from Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Babe Didriksen to Wilma Rudolph and Cathy Freeman, stars from every Olympic Games between 1928 and 2008 are featured in this unique exhibition.
The photos are right up to date, with images from the Beijing Games including double Olympic champions Yelena Isinbayeva, Tirunesh Dibaba and Veronica Campbell-Brown added to the exhibition along with Gulnara Galkina Samitova, who won the first ever women’s 3000m Steeplechase Olympic title.
These photographs not only commemorate some great sporting performances and marvellous human stories, but above all they are a testament to the emancipation of women in society. When women were first eligible to compete at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, there were only 5 events on the programme, and women were also restricted to a maximum of three individual events.
Over the years, thanks to the performances and campaigning of women in sport, and enlightened decision making, the women’s programme increased steadily. Between 1928 and 1960 there was no event longer than 800m for women, but since 1984 the women’s marathon has been one of the Olympics’ major attractions.
With the inclusion of the Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Hammer Throw and most recently the Steeplechase, the Athletics Programme for women at the Olympic Games is now complete!
Two of the 53 photos:
Dragila 2000
Isinbaeva 2008
More available on the IAAF site.
Of course it also seems to me that until the women are competing in the decathlon instead of the hept, the women's program still isn't really "complete". Same with the 50K walk.