Paris 2024 Olympic Games: from Paris-1900 to 2024, the feminist fight conquers the Games against the misogynist Coubertin and preconceived ideas

Les femmes ont pu participer aux épreuves de natation à partir de Paris 1924. Bibliothèque nationale de Franc – Agence Rol. Agence photographique

Les femmes ont acquis de haute lutte leur participation aux Jeux.

There were around twenty in 1900, there will be more than five thousand in 2024: between the first Parisian edition of the Olympic Games and that of this summer, women won their place and made Pierre de Coubertin lie. Father of the modern Olympic Games and president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until 1925, Coubertin did not hesitate to express in very misogynistic terms his opposition to the participation of women in the Olympics. "A small female Olympiad next to the large male Olympiad. Where would the interest be ? […] Uninteresting, unsightly and we are not afraid to add : incorrect, such would be in our opinion this women's half-Olympiad&quot ;, he estimated in 1912 in the Olympic Review.

"He understands that women can practice sports, but not in public, and not just any sports, only sports of grace and femininity", explained recently the sports historian Patrick Clastres.

Cooper, forever the first

However, at the time it was not the president of the IOC but the organizing committees who were responsible for proposing women's events. The door is ajar in 1900 in Paris.

Women can participate in two events, tennis and golf, as well as three mixed sports, sailing, croquet and horse riding. Twenty-two women take part in these Games, compared to 975 men.

Briton Charlotte Cooper becomes the first female Olympic medalist in an individual competition by winning gold in tennis. In 1912 in Stockholm, another tennis player, Marguerite Broquedis, became the first French Olympic champion in all sports.

During the second edition of the Games in Paris in 1924, out of the 3088 athletes, there were 135 women, twice as many as in Antwerp in 1920. Women are competing in tennis, swimming and diving (2 disciplines added since Stockholm) and for the first time in fencing. A woman, Swiss Ella Maillart, also takes part in a sailing event.

Behind the scenes, a leader is fighting for women's place at the Olympics: Alice Milliat, president of the Federation of Women's Sports Societies of France (FSFSF), then founder of the International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI).

In 1922, she organized the first women's Olympic Games, which she was forced to rename "World Women's Games". They took place every four years, until 1934. The obstinacy of Milliat, combined with the resignation of Coubertin in 1925, changed the situation. In Amsterdam in 1928, women could now compete in athletics and gymnastics. But reluctance persists.

2012: women are allowed in all sports

The IOC uses the great fatigue of certain athletes at the arrival of the 800m as a pretext to cancel the event which will make its return in 1960. It will be necessary to wait for the Games of London in 2012 and the addition of women's boxing to see women allowed in all sports.

The share of women has also increased in Olympic bodies. There are now 41% women among the members of the IOC, but the presidency of the Committee has only known men.

Parity in Paris-2024

A hundred years after Paris-1924, there will be 10,500 engaged this summer for the first equal Olympic Games in history. Global parity, each delegation not being required to apply it within itself. Furthermore, in some sports, certain events remain exclusively male, such as Greco-Roman wrestling, or female, such as rhythmic gymnastics. But this year, men will be allowed in synchronized swimming for the first time as part of the team event.

For several editions, there have also been more and more mixed events, such as relays in athletics and swimming, or in triathlon, team events in judo, & ;nbsp;etc. For the 2024 edition, a mixed relay has been established on the run. This summer, the calendar also intends to promote women's events.

Traditionally scheduled for the last day of competition, the men's marathon will be run the day before and it is the women's marathon which will have this honor on August 11, a few hours before the closing ceremony .