Fighting for Acceptance

FIGHTING FOR ACCEPTANCE:

SIGFRID EDSTR0M AND AVERY BRUNDAGE: THEIR EFFORTS TO SHAPE AND CONTROL WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Carly Adams*

In the twenty-first century, women train for and compete in grueling and physically taxing sports that were once considered appropriate for men only. Such participation was considered inappropriate by the Modern Olympic Games founder Pierre de Cou- bertin and his aristocratic colleagues who were fiercely opposed to the sight of straining, sweaty, muscular women participating in arduous physical activities. The Olympic Games, as Coubertin's personal venture, supported by traditional upper-class male sport leaders, were established to celebrate and embrace the physical accomplishments of men, not women. Reflecting Victorian notions of his time, sport to Coubertin was an arena for the development of human sporting bodies, and the traditional masculine virtues of strength and moral character. Like any other organization, these Games had leadership that mapped out specific goals and rules, with their intentions and values manifested through the creation of governing policies. There has long been a struggle for control over, and acceptance of, women's sports within the modern Olympic movement. Women have been active in sport since the 19th century; they even competed unofficially at the Olympic Games in golf and tennis as early as 1900. However, from the onset, women's participation has been an uphill battle characterized by restrictions, modera- tion, and exclusion. Since the establishment of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, women sport leaders have been challenging the anachronistic ideas of the IOC, fighting for their right to participate in this traditionally male preserve. By the 1920s, the women's sport movement, led by the influential French activist Alice Milliat, was strengthening. Women were demanding access to this traditionally male sphere or were threatening alternatives such as hosting their own women-only Olympic Games. The struggle between the IOC and women's lobby groups was carefully manipulated and controlled by shrewd male sport leaders. Women made their way into the male dominated modern Olympic Games only because of their lobbying efforts and unwillingness to disappear. An examination of the leadership of like-minded IOC presidents, who perpetuated the dominant social ideology of women as passive, non-physical beings, capable of participating only in specific "feminized" sports, provides insight into how male sport leaders used their stature to control and shape the rapidly growing women's sport movement to fit their personal visions of the Olympic sporting ideal. Ultimately, the expansion and development of women's international sport depended upon the interest and generosity of men. Sigfrid Edstr0m and Avery Brundage were important historical figures who identified a need for the limited participation of women in sport. Through their unique political personae, these two individuals succeeded in monitoring, regulating, and controlling significant aspects of women's sport from 1913 until the early 1970s.

SIGFRID EDSTR0M AND THE CREATION OF THE IAAF

Sigfrid Edstr0m was involved in sport as an athlete or administrator since the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. He was an ambitious man and a shrewd politician, who meticulously manipulated and negotiated deals in accordance with the outcome he desired, while displaying a favourable public image. Edstr0m was a strong supporter of the modern Olympic movement; thus, after the success of the Games in 1912 in which he was intimately involved, he desired to gain entrance to the higher echelons of international sport.1 Consequently, primarily due to the disorganized nature of track and field, in 1912, Edstr0m, set in motion a plan to establish an international athletics federation.2 He had great respect and admiration for Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Movement and realized that to obtain consent for a separate international athletics body, he would have to tread carefully.3 Through assuring Coubertin that a new international federation would not contest or interfere with the leadership of the IOC, and by asking Coubertin for his help in the formation of the new federation, Edstr0m gained the approval he * Carly Adams is a Master's student at The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

The Global Nexus Engaged Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research, pp. 143-148 144 The Global Nexus Engaged Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research - 2002 desired. The International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), created in August 1913 with Edstr0m elected as President, became the first federation to work closely with the IOC. Edstr0m's relationship with Coubertin and his ability to gain significant positions in international sport was a measure of his political skill. In 1920, Edstr0m was co-opted as a member of the IOC, and one year later he joined the IOC's first executive board. The respect and confidence Edstr0m had among the higher levels of international sport circles, allowed him to influence the direction of sport in the years to come.

THE FSFI AND WOMEN'S FIGHT TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE GAMES

By the 1920s, the IAAF was faced with one of the most controversial issues to impact the new Federation: the increasing demands of women to compete in international athletics, specifically at the Olympic Games. The Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale (FSFI), under the leadership of Alice Milliat, was created as a response to the rejection of women's participation in athletics. At its first meeting, the Congress of the FSFI made plans to host a Women's Olympic Games, held every four years, with the first commencing in Paris in 1922. At the first Games, 20,000 spectators attended the one-day competition, with athletes from five nations competing in eleven events.4 The success of the Games increased the awareness and fears of both the IOC and the IAAF. By 1923, Edstr0m recognized that international sport for women was growing in popularity; thus, he quietly began to lay the groundwork to have uncontested power over the expanding movement. In 1924, women officially became a part of the IAAF. However, due to a provision restricting women from the Olympic program, they were no closer to obtaining unrestricted access to the Olympic Games. In exchange for inclusion in the IAAF, the FSFI agreed to abide by all rules and regulations of the IAAF while maintaining control over women's sport as delegates of the IAAF. The agreement also allowed the FSFI to retain its international women's athletics competitions; however, the word "Olympic" had to be omitted from the title of the championship. Most significantly, the report included a recommendation to petition the IOC to include a full athletics program for women at the Amsterdam Games in 1928. Edstr0m's comments regarding the proposal blatantly demonstrated his conflicting feelings about women's participation in athletics. After the report was read, he asked the Congress to vote on whether women would have access to the Games, claiming that the question to study was whether women should be admitted to compete in athletics in the Olympic Games.5 The dialogue is interesting since the IAAF had already decided to change its charter to include jurisdiction over both men and women; yet, when presented with the real possibility of women competing in athletics at the international level, the rationale for this control was re- examined. The result of the vote regarding women's inclusion was 12 to 5 in favour of women's participation.6 By including events for women, the IAAF pacified the FSFI, while concurrently controlling the specific athletic events to which women had access. In exchange for a limited program, the FSFI was forced to forfeit its control over women's athletics to the IAAF.7 On recommendation of the IAAF, the IOC opted to include an experimental program for women in the 1928 Games.8 The controversy surrounding females in the traditionally masculine sport of track and field did not end. The British contingent of female athletes was so disgusted by the IAAF and IOC's treatment of women and lack of a full athletics program that it boy- cotted the 1928 Games.9 The 800m race for women also gave male leaders the ammunition they needed to justify their opposition against women's inclusion in the athletics program. Women competing in the 800m race crossed the finish line in a state of exhaus- tion, an inappropriate physical state for women in the opinion of most male sport leaders. Despite the 800m outcome women's athletics events at the Amsterdam Games attracted 101 female competitors from 18 countries.10 New world records were set in all five women's athletic events.11 The IOC, drawing on negative reactions to the women's 800m race, threatened to remove women's athletics from the 1932 Games. At the 9th IAAF Congress in Holland in 1928, the members voted to retain a limited number of provisional women's athletics events on the program for the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. The Congress decided that six events would be included;12 however, after much debate the 800m was excluded from the list of events, not to be seen again in an Olympic program until 1960. In 1931, the IOC Congress accepted women's participation in athletics by a vote of 16-3.13 Through the negotiations between the IAAF and the IOC it becomes obvious that the expansion of athletics and all sports for women at the international level ultimately was deter- mined and shaped by the "goodwill" and interests of men. Edstr0m was instrumental in bringing women's issues to the agenda of international sporting bodies. His political persona, as an ambitious, meticulous organizer, and successful negotiator, allowed him to use his stature as president of the IAAF and member of the IOC to manipulate the proceedings regarding women's participation in athletics. Although seldom publicly displayed, Edstr0m's disdain for the FSFI was evident through a letter he wrote to Avery Brundage in 1935 stating: "I suppose you know that Mme. Milliat's federation has caused us so much trouble that we certainly have no interest at all to support it. We should like the whole thing to disappear from the surface of the earth."14 Edstr0m, through lobbying for acceptance of women's sport within the IAAF and the IOC, did in fact succeed in making the FSFI disappear, but not before it made a significant contribution to the advancement of women in sport. Edstr0m, through the influence he held as IAAF President and member of the IOC Executive Fighting for Acceptance 145

Committee, succeeded in shaping women's sport participation in a way that was more compatible with his personal ideals of female athletics. By accepting women as a part of the IAAF he could maintain a "watchful eye" over the activities women were allowed to participate in, ensuring the events were conducive to their bodies and acceptable in relation to social perceptions of the time. Hence, Edstr0m was a wise, ambitious, calculating man who reluctantly supported women's entrance into the Games; yet, his actions ultimately placed boundaries upon common notions about women's physical abilities and, arguably, their desires and initiative to compete.

AVERY BRUNDAGE AND HIS UNCOMPROMISING VIEWS

By 1928, Avery Brundage had also made his way to the higher levels of sport. Brundage, like Edstr0m, had a long tradition in athletics. Throughout his university career, he was involved in a variety of extracurricular sporting activities, but particularly he excelled in track and field, winning a place on the United States Olympic team for the 1912 games in Stockholm.15 After the 1912 Games, he began to increase his role in sport administration by becoming a member of the Chicago Athletic Association board of directors. In 1919, he expanded his administrative duties to the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and in 1928 he was elected president of both this organization and the American Olympic Association. Brundage had strong and often controversial notions concerning the governing of athletics. When dealing with issues that arose, his approach was confrontational, as Barney argues, "consistent and unyielding: there was ho room for compromise. It was either Avery's way, or the highway..."16 As president of the AAU, Brundage was forced to deal intimately with the issue of women's participation in athletics. Prior to Brundage's presidency the AAU voted "to promote, control, and provide competitions for women in track and field."17 Of course, the die had been cast for the formulation of women's participation in international sport prior to Brundage's rise to power. Brundage, like Edstr0m, supported the contention that based on the increasing interest of women to compete at an international level, women's participation in athletics was inevitable. Brundage, however, did not have the same polished political skills as Edstr0m. Edstr0m manipulated and negotiated in a quiet, pacifying manner; whereas, Brund- age was vocal and confrontational regarding his views and desires. In 1930, while president of the AAU, Brundage was elected to the LAAF's "Committee on Women's Sport." Therefore, Brundage was acquainted with Alice Milliat, president of the Committee, and was aware of her demands for women's unrestricted entrance into athletics and for a full Olympic program. Brundage's contempt for female participation in sport during the early 1930's was well hidden; he even took steps to achieve a favourable decision for the future of track and field at the 1932 Games. Brundage spoke to William May Garland, IOC member to the United States, "explaining the IAAF attitude on women's athletics to Garland at length and altho [sic] I [Brundage] do not believe that he, personally, is very enthusiastic on the subject, at the same time he promised to fight for the retention of women's track and field events at the meeting in Barcelona."18 Brundage supported the same contention of Edstr0m's, that if women's participation was inevitable it needed to be strictly supervised by qualified individuals, namely men. Several authors suggest that Brundage's views concerning women's athletics have been greatly exaggerated.19 Shantz argues that, "as a matter of principle, Brundage was in favour of women's participation in the Olympic Games, even if he was not willing to support unreservedly women's claim to equal rights with men in sport." 20 Guttmann supports this view indicating that Brundage "was biased against females in some events, like shot putting, but his general inclination was to approve of women athletes."21 The view of the previously mentioned authors however, is contradictory to primary sources that indicate Brundage's contempt for female athletics. In 1930, in a personal letter from Brundage to Knute Rockne, he expressed his negative views concerning female athletics stating that, "there is a demand for athletics of this kind [for women] regardless of how you or I feel about it."22 In 1932, the New York Times quoted Brundage as stating: "Maybe the Greeks were right after all....You know the ancient Greeks kept women out of their athletic games.. .They wouldn't even let them on the sidelines. I'm not sure but they were right."23 Similarly, in 1949 in a personal letter, Brundage wrote, "I think it is quite well known that I am lukewarm on most of the events for women for a number of reasons which I will not bother to expound because I probably will be out voted anyway. I think women's events should be confined to those appropriate for women; swimming, tennis, figure skating and fencing but certainly not shot putting."24 Based on the primary evidence, the authors' assessment of Brundage is mistaken; Brundage's remarks clearly indicate his unfavourable position concerning female sport. Brundage was forced to accept women's participation in activities 'suitable' for the feminine sex because of the foundation that had been laid in international sport prior to his emergence as an international leader. In the late 1930s, Brundage's views regarding female athletes began to surface as decidedly unfavourable. Leigh suggests that his change in attitude was related to Brundage's tough and uncompromising views concerning amateurism. Leigh also indicates that female track teams were receiving endorsements and finances from large companies such as Prudential Insurance. Since "[a]mateurism was at the heart of Brundage's athletic ideals,... he did not approve of athletes, women or men, capitalizing on their fame."25 During the 1930s, Brundage brought the question of verifying the sex of female athletes into the spotlight. In 1936, he wrote a letter to IOC president Baillet-Latour expressing his concern: "[T]he question of the eligibility of various female (?) ath- 146 The Global Nexus Engaged Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research - 2002 letes in several sports has been raised because of apparent characteristics of the opposite sex. Perhaps some action has already been taken on this subject; if not, it might be well to insist on a medical examination before participation in the Olympic Games."26 This letter prompted concern and controversy over gender testing of female athletes, which lasted within international sport circles until the 1990s. Questioning women's true femininity proved a way to devalue female sport, surrounding it with uncertainty and controversy. In 1952, Brundage was elected, by a narrow margin despite the recommendation of Edstr0m, to the position of IOC president. As president, Brundage was forced to deal with an issue that had plagued the Olympic Movement almost since its inception: reduc- tion of the Olympic program. Shantz indicates that upon taking office Brundage drew up a list of eight suggestions for reducing the games. Number seven on the list stated: "To eliminate all events for women. (They could have their own Games in ancient times)."27 The fact that women's participation made his list of possible solutions indicates that the issue had not disappeared by 1952. However, elimination of women's participation from the Games suggests an "out of sight out of mind" solution to the prob- lem. In 1953, at the 49th IOC General Session in Mexico, the "decision was made not to eliminate women from the Games but to only let them compete in 'suitable sports.'"28 The resolution suggests that the IOC considered itself capable of determining what sports were "suitable" for the female body.29 Brundage was able to justify his position on women in sport through the feminine ideals being popularized by American soci- ety during the 1950s.30 In short, what is meant by the term feminine ideal, in relation to the Olympics and specifically the Brund- age Era, is the channeling of women into "appropriate," artistic sports such as gymnastics and figure skating that were deemed compatible for the female body. Within these sports, traditional notions of femininity such as beauty, grace, and artistry, could be celebrated and not questioned, as was often the case when women participated in more masculine endeavours such as long distance running.31 Canada's Barbara Ann Scott was a female figure skater during the 1950s who perfectly portrayed Brundage's ideal female athlete. She was graceful, charming, poised, and feminine. Brundage used prominent social views to justify funnelling women into specific sports and restricting their participation in more physically aggressive activities. By the late 1950s, Brundage's crusade against female athletes was less uncompromising. In 1957, Brundage wrote "[m]any still believe that events for women should be eliminated from the Games, but this group is now a minority. There is still, however, a well grounded protest against events which are not truly feminine, like putting a shot, or those too strenuous for most of the opposite sex, such as distance runs."32 Instead of opposing popular opinion to advocate the elimination of women from the Olympic Games, his focus shifted to ensure that women only competed in activities that fit his compromises with respect to the ideals of femininity. Leigh argues that by 1960, Brundage had ended his public campaign against women.33 In 1972, Brundage's speech at the 73 IOC Session in Munich indicated that he was resigned to the fact that women would remain a permanent fixture in the Games. He stated:

Doors have been opened wide and walls demolished, and girls and women, half the human race, have found new areas of expression and are participating in most sports. The screened and sheltered female of yesteryear, today runs the mile, tries to enter the marathon and swims the Channel in record time.34

CONCLUSION

Over the last century, women's participation in international sport has generally been marginalized, with women channeled into sports deemed appropriate for the perceived limitations of the female body. Events leading to the official inclusion of women into the modern Olympic movement were carefully engineered proceedings with the desired outcome of shaping and controlling women's sport participation at the international level. Sigfrid Edstr0m and Avery Brundage are excellent examples of how men used their political power and personal stature within international sport circles to define, control, and manipulate women's sport participation. Edstr0m was a shrewd, careful negotiator, with definite ambitions and ideals. Although his public face was one of benevolence and goodwill, beneath this fagade he schemed to achieve his desired outcomes. Pertaining to women's sport these outcomes included gaining absolute control over women's athletic participation and restricting their access to the Olympic Games in accordance with social ideals of 'proper' feminine activities. Edstr0m set the stage for the Brundage era regarding the issue of women's involvement in the Olympic Games. As a product of his time, Brundage was outspoken, controversial, and unyielding regarding his personal beliefs. While forced to accept women's limited participation in the Olympic Games, he fought hard to funnel female athletes into activities perceived as "appropriate" for the female body. Despite the lobbying efforts and advancements made by female activists, such as Alice Milliat, women's access to the Olympic Games was fundamentally dependent on the interest and political agendas of men. Edstr0m and Brundage, through their individual political personae perpetuated the anachronistic ideals of women as passive, non-physical beings while shaping the growing women's sports movement to fit within their personal agendas. While neither man supported equality within Olympic competitions, they recognized the need to accept women's limited participation in order to retain control Fighting for Acceptance 147 over women's sport endeavours. Endnotes

1 At the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, Edstr0m held the position of Director and Vice President of the organizing committee and he was a member of the stadium building committee.

2 For more information regarding the early formation of IFs and the situation of track and field prior to 1913 see G. Schultz, "The IAAF and IOC: Their Relationship and its Impact on Women's Participation in Track and Field at the Olympic Games, 1912-1932," unpublished M. A. thesis, The University of Western Ontario, 2000, p. 63.

3 Athletic competitions were the stronghold of the Olympic Games and the IOC believed itself to be the ruling authority on international amateur athletics. Therefore, Coubertin had to be convinced that an external organization was needed to control the sport but that it would not infringe on or attempt to overpower the jurisdiction of the IOC. For more information on the animosity between Sullivan and Coubertin and the events surrounding Sullivan's attempt to establish an international athletic federation see J. Lucas, "Early Olympic Antagonists: Pierre de Coubertin Versus James E. Sullivan," Stadion, 3(2), 1979: p. 264.

4 M. H. Leigh and T. M. Bonin, "The Pioneering Role of Madame Alice Milliat and the FSFI in Establishing International Trade [sic] and Field Competition for Women, Journal of Sport History, 4(1): 1977, p. 77.

5 "IAAF Minutes, 8th Congress, The Hague, 5-8 August 1926" (International Centre for Olympic Studies, The University of Western Ontario, Canada hereafter referred to as ICOS, UWO) pp. 66-73.

6 Ibid, p. 71.

7 K. B Wamsley and G. Schultz, "Rogues and Bedfellows: The IOC and the Incorporation of the FSFI," 5th International Sym- posium for Olympic Research, September 2000, p.115.

8 It is interesting to note that both the IOC and the IAAF accepted women's participation in athletics for the first time in the history of the modern Olympic movement one year after Coubertin had resigned his position as IOC president. Coubertin had been adamantly opposed to female participation in athletics.

9 "IOC Executive Committee Minutes, Meeting #8, Paris, 1926" (ICOS, UWO).

10 U. Simri, A Concise World History of Women's Sports, (Netanya: Wingate Institute, 1983), p. 51.

11 A. Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games, (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), p. 47.

12 The events included were the following: 100m flat, 4xl00m relay, high jump, discus, javelin, and 80m hurdles.

13 "30th IOC General Session Minutes, Barcelona, 25-26 April,1931" (ICOS, UWO).

14 This letter was first found referenced in M. Leigh, "The Enigma of Avery Brundage," Arena Review 4(2), 1980, pp.11-21; however, only vague reference to the Avery Brundage Collection (hereafter referred to as ABC) without precise location was given. After further research the exact location of this letter has been identified as the letter from Sigfrid Edstr0m to Avery Brundage 3 January 1935 ABC Box 42, Reel 24. (ICOS, UWO).

15 For detailed information on Brundage's background see A. Guttmann, The Games Must Go On, (New York: Columbia Uni- versity Press, 1984). Brundage finished sixth in the pentathlon at the 1912 Games.

16 R. K. Barney, "Avery Brundage," in Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement, Eds. J. E. Findling and K. D. Pelle (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996) p. 366.

17 Leigh, p. 11.

18 This letter was first found referenced in Leigh, p. 15, however only vague reference to the ABC without precise location was given. After further research the exact location of this letter has been identified as the letter from Avery Brundage to Murray 148 The Global Nexus Engaged Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research - 2002

Hulbert 13 April 1931, ABC Box 27, Reel 16 (ICOS, UWO).

19 See O. Shantz, "The Presidency of Avery Brundage (1952-1972)" In The International Olympic Committees 100 Years, Vol n, (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee, 1995), p. 173; Guttmann, The Games pp. 193-194.

20 Shantz, p. 173.

21 Guttmann, The Games, p. 194.

22 Letter from Avery Brundage to Knute Rockne, 17 July 1930, ABC, Box 8, Reel 5 (ICOS, UWO).

23 The New York Times, 25 Dec 1931, p. 1.

24 This letter was first found referenced in Leigh, p. 16; however only vague reference to the ABC without precise location was given. After further research the exact location of this letter has been identified as the letter from Avery Brundage to E. J. H. Holt 14 November 1949, ABC Box 27, Reel 16 (ICOS, UWO).

25 Leigh, p. 14.

26 This letter was first found printed in Leigh, p. 15; however only vague reference to the ABC without precise location was given. After further research the exact location of this letter has been identified as the ABC Box 42, Reel 24, (ICOS, UWO).

27 Shantz, p. 173.

28 "IOC Executive Committee Minutes, Meeting #45,14-16 April, Mexico City, 1953" (ICOS, UWO); "49th IOC General Ses- sion Minutes, Mexico, 17-18 April, 1952" (ICOS, UWO), p. 300.

29 The 800m race was an event still not recognized as suitable for women at this time as its reentrance to the Olympic program was rejected at the Executive Committee Meeting in 1954. "IOC Executive Committee Minutes, Meeting #46, 3 May, Lau- sanne, 1954" (ICOS, UWO).

30 B. Freidan, The Feminine Mystique, (New York: Norton, 1983).

31 See Wamsley and Schultz, endnote number 6

32 Circular Letter written by Avery Brundage ABC Box 70 Reel 39,30 August 1957, pp. 3-4, (ICOS, UWO).

33 Leigh, p. 19.

34 '73rd IOC General Session Minutes, Munich, 1972" ABC Box 247, Reel 143, (ICOS, UWO).