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Sports: First Woman To ...

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Women in Sports

Women have been making their mark on the playing field since well before the birth of Christ. The Spartans believed that athletic competition was a key part in developing strong mothers, but as time passed, the attitudes about women in sports changed. Athletic and competitive were not words that were to be ascribed to women, so they were often pigeon-holed into "appropriate" roles.

This lens is a tribute to women who set the bar in the world of sports, becoming the first woman to accomplish a particular mark, break a record, win a title. It is part of a series saluting all the ways in which women have broken ground over the years in a variety of fields. Hooray for us!!

"In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are."
- Althea Gibson

Olympics: First Woman To ...



  • The first female Olympic champion was a Spartan princess called Kynisca (or Kyniska, depending on whom you talk to), in 392 BC (or 396 BC, depending on whom you talk to). She was also the first woman to become a champion horse trainer when her horses and chariot competed and won in the Ancient Olympic Games. She was barred from collecting her prize in person.

  • When the modern Olympics started up in 1896, women were not allowed to compete, but there was an unofficial competitor in the marathon, a Greek woman who became known as Melpomene (her real name was Stamati Revithi). She wasn't allowed to compete with the men, but ran by herself the following day. They refused her entry to the stadium for the final lap, so she completed her race by running around the stadium. After the run was over, the officials couldn't remember her name, so they called her Melpomene after the Greek muse of Tragedy.

  • Women officially competed for the first time in the 1900 competition. The group of first women in the Olympics were: Helen de Pourtales, Switzerland (Yachting), Elvira Guerra, France (Equestrianism), Mme Ohnier and Madame Depres, France (Croquet), Charlotte Cooper, Great Britain (Tennis), Margaret Abbott, USA (Golf), Madame Maison, France (Ballooning).

  • The first women to win gold medals were: Helen de Pourtales (mixed event) and Charlotte Cooper (individual women's event). The first team medal was won by Great Britain in 1912 in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay.

Olympics: Videos

1988 Olympic Women's 100m final - Florence Griffith-Joyner
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Horse Racing: First Woman To ...



  • 1804 - The first woman jockey was Alicia Meynell of England. She first competed in a four-mile race in York, England.

  • 1970 - Diane Crump becomes the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Amidst a media frenzy and surrounded by a police escort, the 20-year-old Crump arrived at Hialeah Racetrack in February 1969 to make history as the first female jockey in a pari-mutuel race. After a winning year, she broke the same barrier by riding in the Kentucky Derby the following May. Not until an injury forced her to hang up her tack in 1990 did Crump step down from the saddle.

  • 1993 - Julie Krone becomes the first woman jockey to win a Triple Crown race, riding Colonial Affair in the Belmont Stakes.

Horse Racing: Videos

Katie Liukkonen horse racing
by modbeedotcom | video info

3 ratings | 443 views
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"You'll be dedicated and that's what you should want to be in anything in life - whether it's sports or academics or your relationship. It all stems from finding that fun, that thrill, that excitement."
- Brandi Chastain

Auto Racing: First Woman To ...


  • 1903 - A secretary, Dorothy Levitt, shocks the English people when she becomes first woman to participate in public motor car race.

  • 1977 - Janet Guthrie earned a starting spot in the top-notch auto race at Indianapolis in 1977 and the Daytona 500 the same year. Her ninth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 (1978), with a team she formed and managed herself, was the best by a woman until 2005.

  • 1980 - Desire Wilson became the first woman to win a Formula One race

  • 1992 - Lyn St. James is the first woman to race on the IndyCar circuit, taking Rookie of the Year honors.

  • 2008 - Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to win an IndyCar race when she took the Japan 300 in Motegi, Japan.

    • Auto Racing: Videos

    World's Fastest Women Jet Car Drivers Drag Racing 1/4 Mile
    by missrunt | video info

    702 ratings | 1,318,539 views
    curated content from YouTube

    Women in Racing

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    Baseball: First Woman To ...


  • 1904 - Amanda Clement, just 16 years old, becomes the first female umpire to officiate a men's baseball game in Iowa for pay.

  • 1911 - Helene Britton becomes the first woman owner of a major league team, the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1911 to 1917.

  • 1946 - Edith Houghton becomes the first woman hired as a first major-league baseball scout.

  • 1995 - Julie Croteau becomes the first female assistant coach in men's collegiate division I baseball at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

  • 2006 - Effa Manley, co-owner of the Negro Leagues team Newark Eagles, becomes the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    • Baseball: Videos

    Women in Baseball
    by allwomenarebeautiful | video info

    18 ratings | 263 views
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    "Champions keep playing until they get it right."
    - Billie Jean King

    Other Sports: First Woman To ...


  • Swimming - In 1926, American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

  • Iditirod - In 1985, Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the Iditirod Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Susan Butcher followed her by winning the next three years straight.

  • Biking - In 1894, a young mother of three turned Victorian propriety on its ear by embarking on a 15-month journey around the world on a 42-pound bicycle, becoming the first woman to do so. As part of her PR campaign, she styled herself as Annie Londonderry, a daring globetrotter and adventurer.

  • Chess - In January 1991, Susan Polgar broke the gender barrier by becoming the first woman to earn the men's Grandmaster title by achieving three GM norms and rating over 2500. (Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze had earlier been awarded the title by virtue of being Women's World Champions).

  • Running - In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon. (Officially is a key word because Bobbie Gibb also ran in that race, finishing about an hour ahead of Switzer, but not as an official entrant.) Her best finish ever was second in 1975.

  • Football - In 1995, Kathy Klobe became the first female to suit up for NCAA Division 1A game as a kicker for Louisville. In 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman to score in a NCAA Division I football game as a placekicker for the University of New Mexico, scoring with two extra points in the fourth quarter of a victory against Texas State University.

  • Skating - In 1906, skater Madge Syers becomes the first woman world figure skating champion, repeating in 1907.

  • Fishing - In 1406, Dame Juliana Berners of Great Britain writes the first known essay on sports fishing. She described how to make a rod and flies, when to fish, and the many kinds of fishing in her essay, "Treatise of Fishing with an Angle."

  • Basketball - In 1990, Bernadette Locke becomes the first female Division I coach of a men's basketball team when she joins the University of Kentucky as an assistant coach to Rick Pitino.

  • Hockey - In 1993, Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play goalie in a professional hockey game for the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League in Salt Lake City.

  • Bullfighting - In 1996, Christina Sanchez became Europe's first qualified woman bullfighter at the age of 24.

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