The History of Women Relay…4X100m, 4X400
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Ovidius University Annals, Series Physical Education and Sport / SCIENCE, MOVEMENT AND HEALTH Vol. XVII, ISSUE 2 Supplement, 2017, Romania The journal is indexed in: Ebsco, SPORTDiscus, INDEX COPERNICUS JOURNAL MASTER LIST, DOAJ DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCES JOURNALS, Caby, Gale Cengace Learning, Cabell’s Directories Science, Movement and Health, Vol. XVII, ISSUE 2 Supplement, 2017 September 2017, 17 (2, Supplement): 541-545 Original article THE HISTORY OF WOMEN RELAY…4X100M, 4X400 ȚIFREA Corina1, COSTACHE Raluca1, IONEL Andreea2 Abstract* Aim. Female runners were first accepted in the Olympic Games for the 100m, 800m and 4x100m relay in Amsterdam in 1928, but the distress of some 800m runners at the finishing line - comparable to some men – was perceived indicative of their frailty and the event was not re-established at Olympic level until 1960 in Rome. In London in 1948 the 200m was introduced, the 400m in Tokyo in 1964, the 1500m and 4x400m relay not until Munich in 1972. As for longer distance, where women’s hair might cling to their perspiring foreheads and shoulders, the 3000m was not to be admitted, together with marathon and 400m hurdles, until Los Angeles in 1984; the 10.000m in Seoul in 1988, the 5000m (replacing 3000m) in Atlanta in 1996. Keywords: Olympic Games, relay, female, athletics. Introduction London in 1948 the 200m was introduced, the Sport tends to be a reflection of society. 400m in Tokyo in 1964, the 1500m and 4x400m This can be seen to have existed in the status of relay not until Munich in 1972. women in sport. Before relating women’s middle- As for longer distance, where women’s distance relays, it is worth reflecting on the hair might cling to their perspiring foreheads and patronizing attitude of male administration of track shoulders, the 3000m was not to be admitted, and field at the turn of the 19thand well into the 20th together with marathon and 400m hurdles, until Los century. Although considering it acceptable for Angeles in 1984; the 10.000m in Seoul in 1988, the women to spend fourteen hours a day in domestic 5000m (replacing 3000m) in Atlanta in 1996. service or to bear them ten children, it was though In the Twenties, while Suzanne Lenglen of inelegant, undesirable and even potentially France was being met with acclaim for spectacular threatening to their reproductive function to dominance on the tennis court, her compatriot Alice participate in energetic sport. Milliat was confronted with hostility. In spite of the This attitude was even evident in the campaign by FSFI, 100m records were ratified by founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de the IAAF until 1934, 200m the following year, Coubertin persistently resisting the inclusion of 400m in 1957. Their recognition of women’s women and even publishing in 1920 his treatise The 1500m records began in 1967; of 3000m in 1972, Crisis of Marriage and the New Woman in the of 5000m and 10.000m not until 1981. It had taken United States. a long time for such as Grete Waitz and Ingrid In respect of the Olympics, he declared: Kristiansen of Norway and Paula Radcliffe of ‘Women have but one task, crowning the winner Britain to become celebrity figures. with garlands’. Indeed, there ought to be erected a 4 x 100m statue in honour of Alice Milliat and her campaign Excluded by men’s clubs, the real boost to in the Twenties, with her creation of Federation athletics for women came from France, more Sportive Feminine Internationale (FSFI) in pursuit exactly from a fervent ‘suffragette’ named Alice of equality – belatedly begun to be acknowledged Milliat, who aged 33 in 1917 founded the by Siegfried Edstrom, President of the IAAF 1912 Federation Feminine Sportive de France (FFSF). – 1946. Women’s middle-distance relay records are That organization started with three clubs but by thin on the ground solely because of delayed 1925 the number was 400. In 1919 her request to acceptance that they were capable of doing more have women’s events included in the Olympic than run for the tram. programme was refused by the IOC so the Female runners were first accepted in the tenacious French pioneer and her associates went Olympic Games for the 100m, 800m and 4x100m ahead by themselves and decided to organize the relay in Amsterdam in 1928, but the distress of first multi-national women’s meet. some 800m runners at the finishing line - This was held in Monte Carlo in March comparable to some men – was perceived 1921 on a rough and ready grass track in front of indicative of their frailty and the event was not re- the celebrated Casino and athletes from France, established at Olympic level until 1960 in Rome. In Britain, Italy, Norway and Switzerland took part. 1 National University of Physical Education and Sports Bucharest,Romania 1 Tudor Arghezi secondary school, Bucharest, Romania E-mail address: [email protected] 541 Received 11.04.2017 / Accepted 03.05.2017 * the abstract was published in the 17th I.S.C. "Perspectives in Physical Education and Sport" - Ovidius University of Constanta, May 18-20, 2017, Romania Ovidius University Annals, Series Physical Education and Sport / SCIENCE, MOVEMENT AND HEALTH Vol. XVII, ISSUE 2 Supplement, 2017, Romania The journal is indexed in: Ebsco, SPORTDiscus, INDEX COPERNICUS JOURNAL MASTER LIST, DOAJ DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCES JOURNALS, Caby, Gale Cengace Learning, Cabell’s Directories Later in 1921, Madame Milliat put on a match world record for 4x100m, and in the final they were between France and England and the following day around eight meters clear approaching the final she and her colleagues founded the Federation change only to drop the baton! Helen Stephens Sportive Feminine Internationale (FSFI), which (Bourdon, Gozzoli, 2006) organized its first ‘World Games’ a year in Paris An easy winner of the 100m title in a and would govern women’s athletics at the wind-assisted 11.5 (in fact she never lost a race international level until merged with the IAAF in during her brief career), ran a storming anchor leg 1936. to win the race for the USA in 46.9 well clear of The FSFI was the body which ratified Britain and Canada. Stephen’s team-mates were women’s world records and one of the earliest was Harriet Bland, Annette Rogers and Betty Robinson. a time of 51.4 for the 4x400m relay (en route to It was utterly remarkable that Robinson should win 51.8 for 4x100m yards) at the inaugural World another gold medal, for in 1931 she was so badly Games in Paris in 1922 by an English team of Mary injured in a plane crash that she was unable to walk Lines, Nora Callebout, Daisy Leach and properly or bend comeback, she wasn’t able to use Gwendoline Porter. Although only five nations a crouch start in the 100m and yet still made the were represented (England, USA, France, Olympic squad. (Koski, Tahvanainen, 2004). Czechoslovakia and Switzerland) the meeting was a The first European team to strike Olympic huge success with over 20.000 spectators attending gold was from the Netherlands at the London the one-day event. Games of 1948, which was hardly surprising as Lines was the first star of women’s Fanny Blankers-Koen had already won the 100m, athletics. She was a 27-year-old London waitress 200m and 80m hurdles and was not only the when she started running in 1921 and between then undisputed star of those Games but the greatest and 1924 she was credited with 33 world records at female athlete the world had seen. In addition to her distances ranging from 60m to 880 yards, not to sprinting and hurdling exploits, she also held the mention diverse hurdling and relay events. world records for the high jump and long jump! It was at the second edition of the World Some six meters behind the leading team at the Games in Gothenburg in 1926 that 50 seconds was final change-over, the ‘Flying Dutchwoman’ broken for the first time. An England team of Doris charged through to win by a narrow margin over Scoular, Eileen Edwards, Florence Haynes and Australia, 47.5 to 47.6. Rose Thompson combined for a 4x110 y time of But to witness the fall of the world record (46.4 49.8, worth 49.5 for 4x100m. by Germany in 1936) one had to wait until the 1952 The officially ratified world record Olympics in Helsinki, when an Australian team remained at 49.8 until women athletes were clocked 46.1 in a heat. However, as in 1936 disaster admitted to the Olympic Games for the first time in befell the favorites. In the final the Aussies led until Amsterdam in 1928. the last exchange, when in the words of a witty The Canadians won their heat in 49.3 and reporter, ‘the shapely knee of incoming Winsome the final in 48.4, the team comprising Fanny Cripps knocked the baton from Marjorie Jackson’s Rosenfeld, Ethel Smith, Florence Bell and Myrtle grasp’. Cook. Betty Robinson, a 16 year-old schoolgirl, The latter, winner of the 100m/200m double, who anchored the USA to second place in 48.8, had was as fast as lightning in retrieving the baton, yet earlier become the inaugural 100m champion in by the time she got underway other teams were too 12.2 ahead of Rosenfeld and Smith while a tearful far ahead and the USA won from Germany in a Cook, who had set a world 100m record of 12.2 the tight finish, both clocking a world record 45.9 month before, was disqualified for two false starts (auto-times, 46.14 and 46.18) and Australia were (Kiriţescu, 1985).