Women were first allowed to compete in the modern Olympic Games in 1900, at the Paris Games.
The 1900 Summer Olympics were held in Paris from May 14 to October 28 as part of the Exposition Universelle, or World’s Fair. Women competed in a limited number of events, including tennis, golf, sailing, and croquet. Their participation marked the first appearance of female athletes in the modern Olympic movement.
Swiss sailor Hélène de Pourtalès is often identified as the first woman to compete and the first female Olympic champion, because she was part of the winning crew in a sailing event. Britain’s Charlotte Cooper became the first woman to win an individual Olympic title when she took the women’s singles tennis championship. American golfer Margaret Abbott won the women’s golf event.
Only about 22 women competed in 1900, and the Games were very different from the modern Olympics: there were no opening or closing ceremonies, many contests were loosely organized, and some competitors did not realize they were taking part in Olympic events. Women’s Olympic participation expanded gradually, but several sports remained restricted for decades.