Women first competed in Olympic track and field events in 1928, at the Amsterdam Summer Olympics.
The Olympic program introduced five women’s athletics events: the 100 meters, 800 meters, high jump, discus throw, and 4 × 100-meter relay. Their inclusion followed years of campaigning by women’s sports organizations, including the International Women’s Sports Federation founded by French athlete Alice Milliat.
Poland’s Halina Konopacka became the first female Olympic athletics champion by winning the discus throw. American Betty Robinson won the first women’s Olympic 100 meters, while Canada captured the inaugural women’s 4 × 100-meter relay. The events represented a major breakthrough, although women were still excluded from most athletics disciplines.
The 800 meters became controversial after exaggerated reports claimed that exhausted competitors had collapsed at the finish. The IOC subsequently removed the event until 1960, reflecting the era’s widespread but unfounded beliefs about women’s physical capacity. Women had competed in some Olympic sports as early as 1900, but 1928 was the key milestone for track and field.