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Jul 1, 776
First Olympics
The ancient Olympics were rather different from the modern Games. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete. No women were allowed to participate in the first Olympics, unless they entered horses in the equestrian events -
Wellesley College
Wellesley College, a college for women was chartered in 1870 opened 1875. Upon opening, the college required physical education as part of the curriculum. -
Amateur Athletic Union
In 1914, the AAU allows women to register for the national swimming championships.This led to the AAU keep records of women's swimming records in 1915. -
Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Ederle was an American competitive swimmer. In 1925, Ederle swam a 21-mile from Manhattan to Sandy Hook. She did this in just over seven hours. Later that year, she failed her first attempt at swimming across a channel. However, a year later she succesfully completed her cross-channel in 14 hours and 30 minutes. She became the first woman to swim the English Channel. -
Women Compete in Track & Field
Women competed in track and field events for the first time. However, so many collapsed at the end of the 800-meter race that the event was banned until 1960. -
Girls' Baseball League
<ahref='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJwsUGbs4Bc&feature=related' >AAGPBL Video</a>By the fall of 1942, many minor league teams disbanded due to the war. Men, 18 years of age and over, were being drafted into the military. There was fear that this pattern would continue and that Major League Baseball Parks across the country were in danger of collapsing. This prompted Philip K. Wrigley to search for a possible solution to this dilemma. Essentially, his solution was The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. -
Wilma Rudloph
Rudolph
Rudolph suffered from polio, pneumonia, and scarlet fever as a young child, which left her partially paralyzed. She could not walk until she was eight years old. At just 20 years old, Rudolph was the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field at Rome Olympic Games. -
Larissa Latynina
Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, born December 27, 1934, completes her Olympic career with a total of 18 medals—more than any other athlete in Olympic history. -
Basketball
Women finally get the official "okay" to play five-player, full-court basketball. -
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. This impacted women in sports by allowing women to participate in all sports if they choose to. After Title IX, the percentage of female college athletes increased, as well as those same athlete's having a 57% graduation rate with a bachelor's degree. The number of women participating in college athletics is still increasing -
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a track and field athlete. he won the silver medal in the heptathlon in the 1984 Summer Olympics, won the gold medal and set the world record in the event in 1988, and captured the gold again at the 1992 games. She also won a gold medal (1988) and bronze medals (1992, 1996) in the long jump. She was the first woman athlete on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. -
Women's World Cup.
The United States soccer team wins the first Women's World Cup. This was sixty-one years after the men's first FIFA World Cup tournament in 1930. The six World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams. The next World Cup will be hosted by Canada in 2015. -
Manon Rheaume
Rheaume Manon Rheaume became the only woman to start in a National Hockey League game in an exhibition game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. -
WNBA
The inaugural Women's National Basketball Association season begins. History of Women's Basketball -
Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race -
Pat Summit
Legendary basketball coach Pat Summit of the University of Tennessee marks her 1,000th win on the court. The milestone occurred during her 35th year as the Lady Volunteers' head coach.
