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Olympics

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Collection
Olympic athlete Caster Semenya
June 5, 2019

Restricting Semenya is Sexist and Violates Human Rights

by Molly Weiner

By saying a woman can only be defined as female and enjoy success if she has an arbitrary amount of testosterone, the IAAF has turned the hormone into something it is not: a myth of male greatness.

Topics: Women's Rights, Athletes, Olympics
Agnes Keleti training a student

Agnes Keleti

A promising gymnast, Agnes Keleti survived the Nazi invasion of Hungary and won the most medals of any athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Andrea Gyarmati

Andrea Gyarmati

Andrea Gyarmati won two Olympic medals for swimming before stepping away from the spotlight at the height of her career.
Maria Gorokhovskaya

Maria Gorokhovskaya

Maria Gorokhovskaya made history by winning seven medals in gymnastics at the 1952 Olympics, the greatest number of medals a woman had won in a single Olympic Game.
Ilona Elek and Sada Jacobson

Ilona Elek / Sada Jacobson

Fencers

Riposte like a Girl

Ilona Elek

Ilona Elek

Hailed as one of the greatest female fencers of all time, Ilona Elek won her first Olympic gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Yael Arad, 2009

Yael Arad

Yael Arad celebrated an unprecedented victory in 1992 when she won the Olympic silver medal for judo, making her the first Israeli Olympic medalist for any sport.
Loren Galler Rabinowitz and David Mitchell, 2004

Loren Galler-Rabinowitz

A champion in two very different fields, Loren Galler-Rabinowitz took home the bronze medal for ice dancing in 2004, then competed in the 2011 Miss America Pageant as Miss Massachusetts.

Emily Jacobson

Emily Jacobson, raised by a family of fencers, reached the pinnacle of her career when she competed in the 2004 Olympics, which was the first time women were allowed to compete as sabre fencers.
Sada Jacobson

Sada Jacobson

Sada Jacobson won the bronze medal for sabre fencing at the 2004 Olympics (the first Olympics where women were allowed to compete in sabre), then did one better in 2008, bringing home both a silver and another bronze medal.
Emily Hughes

Emily Hughes

Emily Hughes showed great promise as an Olympic figure skater, but retired young to pursue the possibilities of a career in business.
Sasha Cohen at Skating Club of Boston's Ice Chips

Sasha Cohen

Figure skater Alexandra “Sasha” Cohen won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics and popularized the difficult I-spin, which many now call the “Sasha spin” in her honor.
Eliana Melmed Playing Doctor
November 25, 2014

Not Just Pink

by Eliana Melmed

I am a junior in high school. I’m involved in the mock trial team, the drama department, the creative writing program, and a music club. I’m also on two sports teams: water polo and swimming. I could have also chosen to participate in basketball, or cross country, or tennis, or volleyball, or soccer, or a dozen other sports. I definitely take for granted my opportunities to participate in the athletics and activities of my choice.

Topics: Feminism, Athletes, Olympics
Olympians Bobbie Rosenfeld and Aly Raisman

Bobbie Rosenfeld / Aly Raisman

Olympians

Going for the Gold 

Julie Heldman and Teammates with the Federations Cup, 1966

Julie Heldman

Julie Heldman won 22 professional tennis titles in her stunning career.
Deena Kastor, 2007

Deena Kastor

Long distance runner Deena Kastor was an eight–time national champion in cross country and holds the American records in the marathon, half–marathon, 5K, 8K, and 15K races.
Dara Torres in Beijing, China, August 17, 2008

Dara Torres

An athlete of remarkable endurance and drive, twelve-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres is the only American swimmer to have competed in five Olympics.
Rusty Kanokogi

Rusty Kanokogi

The first woman allowed to train with male judo students at Japan’s judo headquarters, the Kodokan, Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi pioneered women’s judo as an Olympic sport.
Sarah Hughes, Cropped

Sarah Hughes

In a thrilling, surprise victory, Sarah Hughes won the gold medal for figure skating at the 2002 Olympics, becoming the first American to win that honor without ever having won a World or US senior national title.
Aly Raisman

Aly Raisman

Alexandra “Aly” Raisman not only won gold and bronze medals for her individual performances at the 2012 Olympics but captained the women’s gymnastic team that won the gold medal that year.
Charlotte Epstein

Charlotte Epstein

Charlotte “Eppy” Epstein helped popularize women’s swimming and coached Olympic athletes who broke more than fifty world records.

Gretel Bergmann

High jumper Gretel Bergmann’s Olympic hopes were dashed when Nazi officials both refused to let her leave Germany and refused to let her compete in the 1936 Games.
"A Muriel Rukeyser Reader"

Muriel Rukeyser

Muriel Rukeyer’s poetry reflected her passionate activism and her belief in confronting the truth of her lived experience.
Nancy Lieberman at NBA All-Star Game, February 12, 2010

Nancy Lieberman

Hailed as one of the greats of women’s basketball, Nancy Lieberman set a record as the youngest Olympic medalist in basketball and was inducted into multiple sports halls of fame.
Lillian Copeland, circa 1930s

Lillian Copeland

Lillian Copeland was the epitome of a strong woman with a remarkable career, first as a record-setting Olympic medalist and later as an officer in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
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