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Their Day in the Sun - Women of the 1932 Olympics (Paperback, New)
Loot Price: R532
Discovery Miles 5 320
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Their Day in the Sun - Women of the 1932 Olympics (Paperback, New)
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Loot Price R532
Discovery Miles 5 320
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The 1932 Olympic games took place in Los Angeles in the depths of
the Great Depression; that they were held at all falls barely short
of miraculous. The United States sent thirty-seven women to
compete-seventeen swimmers, seventeen track and field athletes, and
three fencers. It was not easy, and far from acceptable, for a
woman to be an athlete in 1932. As late as April 1931 the
International Olympic Committee seriously considered eliminating
women's events. The young Americans did their part to capture the
imagination of spectators and reporters. Through the sports press
they catapulted the Olympic Games and women's athletics into the
nation's consciousness as never before. Doris Pieroth creates vivid
portraits of the women, including the great Babe Didrikson, the
confident and outspoken track and field star; Tidye Pickett, one of
only two African American women who represented the United States
despite encountering racial discrimination; and Helene Madison,
winner of three gold medals in swimming, who returned triumphantly
to Seattle's West Green Lake Beach-as a hotdog vendor (park
department rules barred women from teaching swimming). The team
truly represented America-a democratic cross-section from New York
to California, Washington to Florida, Minnesota to Texas and points
in between. Drawn from public pools, schools and playgrounds,
municipal and industrial recreation programs, and private clubs
alike it reflected the country's entire socio-economic spectrum.
Their attainments and triumphs went a long way toward insuring that
women's events would continue as an integral part of the Olympic
Games-a prospect by no means certain in 1932. Pieroth's account is
drawn from interviews with eleven of the women athletes, family
members, other Olympians of the era, and witnesses of the 1932
games. She also quotes extensively from contemporary journalists
such as Paul Gallico, Westbrook Pegler, and Damon Runyon, whose
mixture of condescension, fulsome admiration for the "glamour girl"
swimmers, and genuine, if sometimes grudging, admiration for the
accomplishments of the athletes provides an intriguing view of the
stereotypes these Olympic contestants were challenging. Their Day
in the Sun: Women of the 1932 Olympics is the story of those
remarkable people-their dedication and their delight in
competition. In recounting their Olympic summer and their varied
routes to Los Angeles, it adds to the history of sport the
identities and details of a specific athletic cohort and their
experiences in striving for excellence and acceptance.
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