March is Women's Month and March 8th is International Women's Day

The 1900 Olympics
Women have been competing in the Olympics since the 1900 games in Paris. The first of the modern Olympics was founded in 1896 by Baron de Coubertin.

The Union of French Athletic Associations (USFSA) however, did not approve of the Baron. De Coubertin wanted France to host the 1900 games, but it wasn't until he resigned the from the USFSA in 1899 that the association agreed to host. With De Coubertin out of the picture the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had no control of the games.

The USFSA decided to host the games in conjunction with the Universal Paris Exhibition. Unlike the IOC tradition of holding the games over a short period of time the 1900 games were held over a period of 6 months, from May to October and often were secondary to the Exhibition. For instance, the fencing competition was a sort of side show to the cutlery exhibit.

Many of the events were never identified as "Olympic" events but rather carried titles like "World's Amateur Championship". The winners of the various events were given silver medals and second prize was a bronze medal. There was no third prize.

Three events were open to women: golf, tennis and yachting.

The first woman to ever win a medal in an Olympic event was Charlotte Cooper from the UK. She was the "gold" medal winner of the tennis competition. American art student Margaret Abbott, won the golf competition. She entered after seeing a notice posted announcing a 9-hole "International Ladies' Golf Tournament". Ms. Abbott shot a 47 to best the field of 10. Nothing Ms. Abbott saw identified the event as an Olympic event and it wasn't until twenty years after her death that researchers identified the event as an Olympic event, and Ms. Abbott as the first American "gold" medalist.

Wilma Rudolph
The first Olympic games to be widely televised were the 1960 games in Rome. Wilma Rudolph was the first Olympic woman to be made famous by television, although the 1960 games were her second Olympics.

Despite a premature birth weight of only 4.5 pounds, Ms Rudolph survived double pneumonia, polio and scarlet fever as a child. She was unable to walk until age six and then did so first with the aid of a leg brace and later with an orthopedic shoe. Nine years after the 11 year old Ms. Rudolph took off her orthopedic shoe to play basketball with her older brothers, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals for track and field events. She won the 100 and 200 meter races and was part of the gold winning relay team.

Joan Benoit Samuelson
The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were the first to have a women's marathon event. Many people remember that event was won by Joan Benoit (later Samuelson). She was 26 at the time. She still holds the women's record for the Chicago Marathon and the second fastest time for a woman marathoner in the US.

Due to the inspiration of women like Joan and Wilma and many others today's women runners are faster than ever. In 1996 Joan tried out for the US Women's Olympic team again. She turned in a time of 2:36.54, a thirteenth place finish. Earlier in her career that time would easily have gotten her a place on the national Olympic team.

NB News wants to encourage all of our readers, men and women, to reach for their goals.

Leslie Hope has been licensed, certified massage therapist since 1988 when she graduated from the Massage Institute of New England. She is the owner of the Healing Hands of Hope in Boston, Mass.