The ancient Olympics were for male athletes only. A woman could score a victory only as a horse owner, not as the jockey.
The modern Olympics recognized swimming at the 1896 Games, but the first women swimmers did not compete until 1912. Those first female swimmers made waves, and the ripple effect will be felt this year in Rio!
The Stockholm Games
Stockholm, Sweden, hosted the 1912 Olympics. In the prior games, London 1908, women athletes could compete only in tennis, golf, archery, and figure skating. But on July 8, 1912, women’s swimming and diving debuted on the Olympic roster.
Of the 2,407 athletes who participated in Stockholm, only 48 were women. Overall, 120 swimmers represented 17 countries; among the women, 27 swimmers represented eight countries.
The U.S. didn’t allow women to compete unless they wore long skirts. That meant no Olympic swimming for American women.
The 27 women swimmers could compete in just two swimming events: the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. By comparison, male swimmers had seven events, including backstroke and breaststroke races and a 1500-meter freestyle.
The 1912 Stockholm Olympics were the first to feature women's swimming. Fanny Durack, Wilhelmina Wylie, and Jennie Fletcher won the 100-meter freestyle, one of only two women's swimming events that year. No U.S. women competed due to their country's requirement of a long skirt for all female athletes
Australasia on the Podium
Fanny Durack of Australasia (as the combined Australian and New Zealand team was then called) competed in the 100-meter freestyle using the new crawl stroke developed in Australia.
During her quarterfinal heat, Durack set a new world record, posting a finishing time of 1:19.8. The former world-record holder, British swimmer Daisy Curwen, also planned to participate, but an emergency appendectomy ended her Olympic dreams.
