Alice Millia, a pioneer of the women’s Olympics who opposed Pierre de Coubertin

For the first time in history, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will feature as many female athletes as male athletes. Born into a family of merchants in 1884, Alice learned that the world was made for exploring and that to be independent you had to have a job. This avant-garde education will give him the strength to move mountains. Interested in discovering other cultures, she moved to London when she was just 20 years old. There she was fascinated by the suffragette movement, which was far less wise than the French suffragettes, and she took up sports. Unlike her countrymen, English women do this a lot, and Alice develops a passion for rowing. Revelation!

At the forefront

Still in France, Alice joined the first women’s sports club in 1912, which she took over in 1915. While the men were dying in the trenches of Verdun, de la Marne or the Chemin des Dames, she was involved in the creation of women’s sports. federations. His business of popularizing women’s sports was a real success. the number of licensees rose from 5,000 in 1918 to 50,000 in 1924. The sports chief then asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open all events to women. Until now, they were allowed only rare subjects, such as swimming. Alice faces the flat rejection of Pierre de Coubertin and others, who have no other arguments to oppose her than obvious misogyny.

Olympic Trials

Rejected but persistent, the woman nicknamed “Sporty Napoleon” organized the first women’s Olympic Games in Paris in 1922. He invited the press. The IOC describes this competition as a “coup”. When Alice organized the second edition in 1926, IOC member Siegfried Edström urged her not to use the phrase “Olympic Games” in return for opening more events for women at the next Olympics; and will offer him a place on the athletics jury.

But at the Amsterdam Olympic Games, in the summer of 1928, a tragedy happened. competitor fainted during the 800 meter race. For the IOC, this is irrefutable proof that women are not made to make such efforts. As a result, the number of events open to them at the 1932 Olympics was again limited.

Eviction

Elise Milliat, who continues her Women’s World Games run, has become the woman to kill for the IOC. Pierre de Coubertin’s desire was to create games so that the elite of nations could meet and compete off the battlefield. His Olympic dream is an ode to civilized myth. Edström and de Coubertin will therefore work to use their network to cut subsidies, which they describe as “a source of trouble”. The ostracized Alice Milliat died anonymously in 1957. The Paris 2024 JOP organizing committee redressed the injustices suffered by this pioneer by naming the new gymnasium in Paris after him. Let’s bet that the French women who will compete in this place will become the pride of the motherland.

* Virginia Giraud holds a doctorate in history. Find him on the podcast At the heart of the story From Europe 1 Studio, on your favorite listening platform.