Who is Alice Milliat, who invented the Women’s Olympics

In the great history of sport, the name ofAlice Milliat risked falling into oblivion forever, before becoming the feminist symbol of a struggle that most observers in the 1920s considered largely lost from the start.

Born in Nantes on May 5, 1884, this rowing champion, who competed between 1910 and 1915 at the Femina Sport of the 14th arrondissement of Paris, changed the face of the Games forever. Between two strokes of the oar and a few outbursts, Alice Milliat had two qualities that would serve her well later: a strong character and firmness of purpose. The young woman never stopped trying to impose a women’s Olympics on the men of the time, full of certainties.

War breaks out with Coubertin

Scandal in high society, absolute veto of the head baron, a certain Pierre de Coubertin. He told his peers and desks around the world: “What sense would there be in a small women’s Olympics next to the great men’s Olympics? Impractical, uninteresting, unattractive, and let us not be afraid to add: incorrect.” Baron Pierre de Coubertin did not spare himself in justifying his opposition to women’s participation in the Olympic Games. Better still: for this convinced colonialist and precocious misogynist, the Olympic spirit had to embody “the solemn and periodic exaltation of athleticism, with loyalty as the means and female applause as the reward.” And there is nothing more to add.

Alice Milliat did not like it at all, and in 1920 she proposed that the Games be mixed. Stubborn and courageous, with a strong political sense and some supporters among the many enemies of the Baron, The champion was convinced that the Games deserved more than the few events generously granted – tennis, croquet, etc. – and that they should be open to women. Women were tolerated with curiosity, even amusement, as long as they wore decent clothes, a small skirt, and did not sweat too much.

The first women’s games, a success

Against the advice of the International Olympic Committee, she organized the Women’s Games in Paris in 1922, where the athletics were worthily represented: women applauding women, men with mocking looks and many journalists reporting on this new lure of the “weaker sex”. It was much more than a gimmick. With over 20,000 spectators at the Pershing Stadium, the event was a success. Pierre de Coubertin and Alice Milliat had a terrible tug of war. But in the end the young woman won her case. Three more editions of the Women’s Olympic Games were held, in 1926 in Gothenburg, in 1930 in Prague and in 1934 in London. In any case, the battle was won: in 1928, in Amsterdam, Coubertin was no longer the head of the IOC and women’s athletics made its official entrance through the main door of the “real” Games, which were now mixed. History was moving and nothing could stop it, even if the road ahead was still long and full of pitfalls. For example, only in Los Angeles in 1984 did the marathon finally become an event open to women. But Since London 2012, with the inclusion of women’s boxing in the Olympic programme, women are now present in all sports on offer.

Forgotten by all…

Alice Milliat succeeded in her incredible gamble, even if the victory left a bitter taste in her mouth. Worn out by battles, tired of sarcasm, forgotten about honors and prizes, abandoned by her most faithful companions, she accepted one casual job after another as a bilingual secretary and shorthand typist until the end of her life. Widowed and childless, Alice Milliat died on May 19, 1957. Buried in Nantes, her name was long “forgotten” on her tomb, until in 2020 her descendants finally decided to place a plaque. Today her statue stands proudly in the hall of the National Olympic Committee in Paris. At her side, facing her, is Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Together for eternity, like a final wiping out of history.