Overview of the 1924 Games - 44 nations sent a total of 3,089 athletes, of which 135 were female. The nations that sent women included: USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Fencing, swimming, diving, and tennis continued to be offered to women. (Track and field was not open to women until 1928.) The 1924 Games were the first to introduce the closing ceremony as we know it today, where three are raised flags: the International Olympic Committee, the host nation, and the next country to host the Olympics. We’ll look at each sport that women could compete in and compare it to today. As always, we try to include trading cards when we can.
Today’s blog is dedicated to tennis!
Tennis was held as an Olympic sport for women from the time the Olympic Games were open to women in 1900 until 1924, except for 1904 when it was excluded. The bright light of tennis championships was focused on Wimbledon and Forest Hills (now the U.S. Open). Not much attention was given to the women’s competitions in the Olympic Games largely because they were held at the same time as Wimbledon or the Forest Hills competitions. Tennis was dropped for men and women after the 1924 Games because the I.O.C. could not come to an agreement to adjust their amateur qualification standards as requested by the International Federation of Lawn Tennis’s request.
When the American players arrived, the facilities were nothing short of terrible. There was no place to practice and the red clay for the courts lay in mounds. It was hot, so hot that the ball kids sometimes refused to do their job. The fashion of the day for the players was a knee-length skirt, knee socks or stockings and topped off with a hat…making it particularly warm for the women. There was no water, no place to sit, and the locker room was a shed with a shower that worked infrequently.
Women could compete in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. Eighteen-year-old Helen Wills was the dominant American who took home the gold in the singles and doubles (with partner Hazel Wightman). She was nicknamed “Little Miss Poker Face” because did didn't show emotion when playing.
In singles, France’s Julie Vlasto took home the silver and Great Britain’s Kathleen McKane won the bronze. No stranger to the Olympics, McKane had all the medal colors by winning gold in the 1920 women’s doubles, silver in the mixed doubles and bronze in the singles.
There was one huge absence and that was France's own Suzanne Lenglen. She was so good they nicknamed her “the goddess.” Ranked number one in the world, the 25-year-old had won gold in the 1920 Olympics and dominated the Wimbledon and the French Championships from 1920 – 1923. In April, Lenglen contracted jaundice and it kept her out of several competitions. From the stands, she watched Helen Wills. Tennis fans that had watched both stars rise were hoping that these Olympic Games would be their opportunity to see them play each other. They didn't face each other until 1926 when Lenglen won in straight sets.
Tennis returned to the Olympic Games in 1988 for singles and 2012 for doubles. Professional athletes could officially compete as of 1988.
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