- Danforth Care asks female care home residents about their experiences playing and watching sport over their lives, and how they feel about the progress women’s sport has made over the last 50 years.
- The Olympics in 2024 will have 49% female participants.
With the Paris Olympics making history by being the most gender equal Olympic games ever, Danforth Care Homes chat to three female residents in their 90s at Norfolk care home, Coronation House about how sport has changed through the years.
“I met my future bridesmaid through playing hockey”
Joyce, 96 from Hampshire shares her special memories of playing sport:
“There weren’t many [female] sports teams and clubs growing up…I can’t remember there being any spectators at women’s sporting events at all.”
Joyce also revealed that playing sport led to a monumental friendship:
“I played hockey first at school and met my future bridesmaid through hockey”
One of the first sports to welcome women in the Olympics was tennis, and Joyce was a fan: “I used to watch Wimbledon. I used to like watching Billy Jean King… I think it’s great that the Paris Olympics is going to be the most gender equal Olympics ever. It’s good to move forward!”
“Things have changed over the past 50 years, people are more accepting of things now, it was always that women were the weaker sex.”
Margaret, 92 from Essex was an avid cyclist in her 20s:
“I played netball when I was in school, and when I was married, I joined a cycling club with my husband, and we used to cycle for miles with this club. The cycling club used to meet every Sunday and we used to go for miles and miles around Epping.
We did a challenge once where we cycled 100 miles in 8 hours, my husband and I cycled from Essex to Wales, and we only stopped once to rest! I made a lot of good friends through cycling” she says.
Margaret also shared her thoughts on how sport has changed since she was young:
“Things have changed over the past 50 years, people are more accepting of things now, it was always that women were the weaker sex… it’s good that more women are able to play sports professionally and get paid for it. Equal rights.”
“I think it’s wonderful more women are able to play sport professionally and get paid for it, it’s very nice to see women able to do it now”, says Grace.
Grace, 92, was born in Poplar in 1931. She has fond memories of playing rounders and running:
“My favourite sporting memory is when we played a little bit of netball in school as a lesson. I really enjoyed it. We weren’t allowed to play any of the boys games growing up. I would have liked the chance to learn how to swim” says Grace.
“The only sport I saw women do was athletics, and it wasn’t very common. There were no women’s sports teams or clubs in my area growing up, and there weren’t even any women’s coaches for the boys teams.”
The evolution of the Olympics
As we look forward to a brighter, more equal future for female athletes, it’s also important to look back and see how much has changed.
The modern Olympics started in 1896. Women competed for the first time at the 1900 Games in Paris. Of a total of 997 athletes, just 2% were women, with 22 women competing in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf.
These were considered sports which were acceptable for women’s fragile bodies. Over the last 124 years, this number has grown, the Paris 2024 Olympics will be the most gender equal ever, with 49% female participants, according to the IOC (International Olympic Committee).
