In which year were women first allowed to compete in the Summer Olympics? Women first competed officially in 1900.
The 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris marked the first official Olympic participation of women. They were permitted to enter a limited selection of events: tennis, golf, sailing, croquet, and equestrian competition. Only 22 women competed, a tiny share of the total field.
Swiss sailor Hélène de Pourtalès is often identified as 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 tournament. American golfer Margaret Abbott also won in Paris and became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Women were not allowed to compete at the 1896 Athens Games, although Stamata Revithi reportedly ran the marathon route independently after being excluded. Participation expanded gradually in later Olympics. Women’s events in athletics and gymnastics appeared in 1928, and the modern Games have moved toward near-equal participation, though that progress took many decades.