Check Out the Audio Clips Section!
(Hear the Olympic Women talk about their experiences)

This site is dedicated to women sporting pioneers, many of whom are Olympians. The year 2000 marked the centenary of the official participation of women in the Olympics and we celebrate their achievements here. With a few fine exceptions, women's Olympic sporting history is not well documented and so a quest began to find and record the memories of the world's oldest women Olympians. 

The book ‘A Proper Spectacle – Women Olympians 1900-1936’ by Stephanie Daniels and Anita Tedder, has become recognised as a leading text in the history of women in the Olympics. It is required reading for any students studying the Olympics and is used in schools, colleges and universities throughout the world and is available from this site.

The foreword is written by world famous marathon runner, Paula Radcliffe. Buy the book

Having found 32 women from 10 different countries who shared their first hand memories in ‘A Proper Spectacle’, we have included some of their stories on this web site. Alongside this, you can find a potted history of women in the Olympic Games together with useful women related statistics – but if you want the whole story of women’s struggle to be Olympians, please select the Order the book menu option.

Read about the Launch of the book 'A Proper Spectacle'

Site designed and produced by Tracy Mack
Last Updated 01/02/08