Lina RADKE

Although Pierre de Coubertin continued to think that contact with women’s athletics was bad for the male athletes and that the sport should be excluded from the Olympic programme, the women’s 800m event made its Olympic debut at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

But the issue was a controversial one: the physically and tactically demanding event was deemed both dangerous and unbecoming for women. It was dropped from the programme for the next edition in 1932 and was not reintroduced until 1960.

In Amsterdam, the victory of Lina Radke, which also saw her break the world record with a time of 2'16''9, was a milestone in terms of women’s events featuring across the Olympic programme.

Radke’s performance on the athletics track paved the way for change.