“Who was Alice Milliat?” you might ask. Right here, where we stand, is named in her honor: Mail Alice Milliat. It’s a fitting tribute to a pioneer of women’s sports. Alice Milliat’s story is one of determination. It is a fight for equality in a world that wasn’t ready for it.
Alice Milliat was born in Nantes in 1884. She became a versatile sportswoman. She excelled in rowing, swimming and field hockey. Milliat lamented the exclusion of women. They were excluded from international sporting competitions. She championed their athletic achievements. She thought they should be acknowledged on par with men’s. This was a difficult task. The International Olympic Committee was chaired by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He did not share her vision.
Coubertin believed women were not made for physical activity. He thought sport was too violent for them. He feared women’s athletic exhibitions would erode society’s morals. Despite this opposition Alice Milliat was undeterred.
In 1921, Milliat made her first big move. She requested that the IOC include women in track and field. She recounts she came up against a solid wall of refusal. This led directly to the creation of the Women’s Olympic Games.
So, Alice Milliat took matters into her own hands. She organized the first Women’s Olympic Games in Paris in 1922. It was held in the Pershing stadium. She was president of the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale at the time. She had helped to found it a year earlier.
The 1922 Women’s Olympic Games were a resounding success. 77 women from five teams competed. They participated in 11 events. Twenty thousand people attended the one-day event. Eighteen world records were set. Milliat’s success was even compared to Coubertin’s in one Paris newspaper.
Between 1922 and 1934, the FSFI organized four Women’s Olympics. These showcased hundreds of athletes to thousands of spectators. As the FSFI gained power and influence, the IOC’s Olympic Games continued to offer only a handful of events for women.
Thanks to intense lobbying by Alice Milliat and other sportswomen, women’s games were gradually integrated into international competitions. In 1928, women were finally allowed to take part in the Amsterdam Olympic Games.
Milliat tried to keep the international women’s sports federation alive. Her frail health and funding difficulties forced her to resign as president. Little by little, she faded from the sporting scene. She returned to her work as a typist and translator. She died in Paris in 1957.
Long overshadowed by Pierre de Coubertin, the name of Alice Milliat is gradually resurfacing. This singular sportswoman fought fiercely to ensure that sport was no longer exclusively for men. Her fight still resonates now.
Alice Milliat’s activism was directly responsible for the development of women’s basketball, football and athletics in France. It pushed for the international institutionalization of women’s sport. Some historians have noted the increase in women’s participation in the Games in Amsterdam in 1928. This was a reflection of Milliat’s work.
In 1995, the first ‘women and sport’ working group was created among IOC members. In 2012, women made up 44% of participants. 46% of events included women.
So, as you walk along Mail Alice Milliat, remember the woman. Remember her vision. Remember her fight for equality. Remember Alice Milliat, a true pioneer.