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Since there was no women’s competition, figure skater Madge Syers of Britain enters the men’s world championship and places 2nd
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St. Louis, Missouri becomes the home of the 1st organized women’s bowling league
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The American Athletic Union (AAU) allows women to register for the national swimming championships
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The AAU opens track and field events to women
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Figure skating is the only sport open to women at the 1st Winter Olympic Games
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Virne Mitchell, pitcher, becomes the 1st woman in professional baseball. However baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis bans women from the sport later that year.
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The All-American Girls’ Baseball League was formed to fill ballparks emptied by baseball players going to war
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12-year-old Kathryn Johnson becomes 1st girl to play Little League Baseball
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Women and men compete together in Olympic equestrian events
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Maureen Connolly becomes the first woman to win all four major tennis championships
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Wilma Rudolph is the 1st woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field at one Olympic Games
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Roberta Gibb becomes the 1st woman to run and finish the Boston Marathon. It’s unofficial since women weren’t officially entered until 1972.
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Diane Crump becomes the 1st woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby
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Women get the official nod to play 5-player, full-court basketball
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The U.S. Congress passes Title IX to foster more equitable federal financial aid to women’s sports programs
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Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match
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The National Women’s Football League is formed, the 1st professional tackle league for women
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Janet Guthrie is the 1st woman to race in the Indianapolis 500
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Kathy Whitworth is inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame with 88 victories – more than any other player in the PGA
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Tamara McKinney becomes the 1st American female skier to win the Alpine World Cup overall championship
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Nancy Lieberman becomes the 1st woman to play in a professional men’s basketball league
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the 1st woman athlete on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine
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The U.S. soccer teams win the 1st Women’s World Cup
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Girls win all 3 division titles in the All-American Soap Box Derby
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Julie Krone wins the Belmont Stakes and becomes the 1st woman jockey to win a Triple Crown race
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Picabo Street is the 1st American woman to win the World Cup title for downhill skiing
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The Women’s National Basketball Association has its 1st season
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Wanda Rucker is the 1st woman to win a men’s bass fishing tournament
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Americans Jill Bakken and Bonetta Flowers win the 1st women’s Olympic gold medal in bobsledding
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Annika Sorenstam becomes the 1st woman to play in a PGA tournament in 58 years
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Effa Manlet is the 1st woman elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
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The Wimbledon tennis tournament announces that it will pay women and men equal prize money for the 1st time
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Pat Summit of the University of Tennessee collects more wins throughout her career than any other men’s or women’s college basketball coach