Last Thursday, Anita DeFrantz became the International Olympic Committee’s first woman vice president and Gianna Angelopoulos of Athens on Friday became the first woman bid committee president to win hosting rights for an Olympic Games. The achievements of these women are especially impressive given the Games’ history of sexism in the Olympics. International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin believed that including women athletes in the Games would be “impractical, uninteresting, unattractive and incorrect.”
“It is not the first challenge of my life,” said Angelopoulos, “but it is the first challenge that has to do with my country in total, with Greece, with Olympism.” If Angelopoulos chooses to head the Olympic organizing committee in Athens, she will become the first women to hold that position. DeFrantz stated “It shows that women’s contributions are welcome and valuable and can be significant.”
