Anna Posyniak‑Dutka An Accidental Champion

Baron Pierre de Coubertin restarted the tradition of the Olympic Games in the modern era in 1896, when the first such event took place in Athens. He also formulated the motto: all nations – all games, which means that first of all, the Olympics are available to sportspeople from all countries regardless ofregardless ofregardless of their nationality, race, religion, or political views. And secondly, all sports disciplines are represented on equal termson equal termson equal terms. De Coubertin believed that Olympic rivalryOlympic rivalryOlympic rivalry should build peace and friendship between people.

All that sounds noblenoblenoble, but what about women? Although they were fighting for equal rights at the end of the 19th century, women were not treated the same as men. Even Baron de Coubertin, with his ideas of egalitarianismegalitarianismegalitarianism, banned women from participating in the Olympic Games. He claimed that allowing women to take part would be a violation ofviolation ofviolation of the ancient principles. They were given the role of a beautiful decoration and could reward male sportsmen by handing them medals. 

The first modern era Olympic Games was an entirely male event. At the next one, however, in 1900, 4 years later, 22 out of 997 participants were female. Women were allowed to compete in socially acceptablesocially acceptablesocially acceptable, non‑contact sportsnon‑contact sports [non‑contact sport]non‑contact sports such as tennis, archeryarcheryarchery, sailing, croquetcroquetcroquet, horse riding, and golf.  Sadly, including women was only a matter of money because the female tennis and golf matches attracted a wide audienceattracted a wide audience [attract an audience]attracted a wide audience.

And here comes Margaret Ives Abbot, the first female Olympic champion. To understand her story we must know a bit about the 1900 Olympic Games. It was organised as a sideshowsideshowsideshow of the World’s FairWorld FairWorld’s Fair held that year in Paris. 95 disciplines were played over a span ofover a span ofover a span of almost 6 months, often at venuesvenues [venue]venues that lacked proper infrastructure, which caused numerous organisational problems. As it later turned out, some contestants didn’t know that they were still participating, let alonelet alonelet alone become Olympic champions! That was the case of Margaret Ives Abbott, who won a golf tournament.

Margaret Abbott wasn’t aware of her success, the world also seemed not to know about it for decades. Her participation in the Olympics was accidentalaccidentalaccidental. She happened to be in Paris at the time of the Olympic Games, and as she had been an amateur golfer who had participated in championships before, she showed upshowed up [show up]showed up and won! What’s more, she competed against her mother in the tournament! As a winner, Margaret wasn’t given a golden medal but a porcelain bowl.

Ms Abbott and her story was discovered late in the 20th century by a curious professor of history. All her findingsfindings [finding]findings show that she was a real pathfinderpathfinderpathfinder for hundreds of female athletes who, against all oddsagainst all oddsagainst all odds, decided to prove that they deserved their place in the history of sports. Margaret did not compete for any award or publicitypublicitypublicity, but for the true love of sports. That’s the genuine spiritgenuine spiritgenuine spirit of the Olympic Games!

1 Źródło: Anna Posyniak‑Dutka, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.