Women prepare to enter the Olympic arena
Female athletes storm the field
Women entered Olympic athletics in 1928. However, only five events were included in the programme, and one of them faced criticism from the Olympic committee after the games.
The Olympic Games were not new territory for women in athletics, as unofficial World Championships for female athletes, known as the Women's World Games, had been held every four years since 1922. Additionally, annual Women's Olympiads were held between 1921 and 1925.
Myrtle Cook – Canadian champion
Halifax, NS, Canada, July 2, 1928
The ladies rejoiced at their qualification for the Olympic Games, setting a couple of world records in early summer of 1928. Among the record-breakers was the experienced Canadian athlete Myrtle Cook, who sprinted to a time of 12.0 in the 100 metres at the Canadian Championships in Halifax in early July.
Myrtle Cook was a woman of action. After her athletic career, she worked to promote women's sports in various ways. She contributed articles to a Toronto newspaper on topics of interest to women and also led the Canadian Women's Hockey Association.
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Betty Robinson 12.0 – not recognized as a WR
Chicago, IL, USA, June 2, 1928
One of Myrtle Cook's toughest rivals was 16-year-old Elizabeth Robinson from the United States. Miss Robinson clocked two 12.0 times in early summer, but neither was recognized as a record due to suspected excessive tailwind.
Betty suffered a tragic fate in 1931. The swift-footed athlete from Illinois was involved in a plane crash and was nearly killed. She remained unconscious for seven months, after which she had to learn to walk again. At the Berlin Olympics, Robinson ran the third leg for the USA team. She did not compete in individual events because her injuries prevented her from crouching in the starting blocks.
The ratification process for the women's 100-metre world record was contentious. Cook's time of 12.0 was ratified only in 1930 – later than Betty Robinson's 12.2 winning time at the Amsterdam Games two years earlier.
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Betty Robinson. Photo: National Library of the Netherlands/Wikimedia Commons.
Lien Gisolf. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Records shattered
Japan's Kinue Hitomi set two world records: 12.2 in the 100 metres and 5.98m in the long jump. However, women did not yet have the opportunity to compete in the sand pit at the Amsterdam Olympic Games.
Swedish athlete Inga Gentzel set the 800-metre world record of 2:20.4 in Stockholm in mid-June. However, her record did not last long, as Germany's Lina Radke lowered it by 0.8 seconds just a couple of weeks later. In Amsterdam, the German athlete further improved the record.
The high jump approached the 1.60m mark, as 18-year-old Lien Gisolf from the Netherlands cleared a bar set at 1.58 metres. The Olympic silver medalist has not been forgotten in her homeland, as there is a street named after her in Tilburg, Netherlands (Lien Gisolfstraat).
STILL Negative attitudes
Women's track and field was not highly regarded in some countries, including Finland. Especially, figures like Tahko Pihkala and Martti Jukola wanted to prevent women from entering the track and field arena. Jukola, a pioneer in sports commentary on radio, criticized the eligibility of female athletes for the Olympics and grumbled in 1928:
This is the result of women's general tendency towards masculinization.
Women had been competing in the 100 meters at the Finnish Championships since 1913, but the event was removed from the championship programme in 1923. No female athletes from Finland were sent to the Amsterdam Olympic stage.