The ancient Olympics didn't allow women to compete, or even watch. However, there are a few ancillary ways that women participated: as horse owners and in the Heraean games.

The modern Olympics made a half-hearted attempt to ban women too, but we snuck in as early as the year 1900. Helen de Pourtales, Charlotte Cooper, and Margaret Abbott were athletes who won that year. It has only grown since then.

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