The purpose of this research is to examine the myth that sport is a male activity and that women don't belong in it. The plan of the research will be to give background for the development of the myth as a way of placing the importance of the myth in modern context and to discuss the scope and limit of the range of validity that may be contained in the proposition, with a view toward suggesting changes in perception of women in sport that might serve to increase the positive correlation between sports activity by women and bringing the myth and its implications in line with reality. Throughout, reference will be made to such factors as level of play and age of participants as a determining feature of the validity of the myth.
Contributions of proponents of women in modern sports history have been noted by various commentators. Leigh and Bonin describe Madame Alice Milliat as "most dynamic and respected leader of the women's sports movement of the 1920's and 1930's" (Leigh and Bonin, 1977, p. 72). Milliat was a French woman who created a venue in France for international track and field competition for women after 1920, when the International Olympic Committee first declined to allow women to participate in field events. The first international competition for women's track and field was held in Paris in 1922. Leigh and Bonin take the position that women's events were added as the men in charge of organizing Olympic Games realized that such events could serve nationalistic promotional objectives. Mitchell says that from 1910 to 1928, international sports-governance bodies had a tolerant and positive attitude toward women's competition and that this attitude influenced the IOC to increased the number of events that women could participate in (Mitchell, 1977). It was in 1928, in Amsterdam, that five selected women's track and field events were first added to the Olympic Games. The American women's team scored one gold medal in the 100 ...