Dare to Compete: Women in Sports

Dare To Compete
Sports and Gender
3/15/2011

"Dare to Compete: Women in Sports" is a short film produced by HBO. It is about women and the way that they have progressed in the area of sports throughout the years. We were not able to watch the whole film; however, what we did watch was very interesting and informative.

The part that we were able to watch mentioned two women that are well known for their part in sport history. The first is Gertrude Ederle. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel and also the first person to ever swim it freestyle. She broke the men’s record by two hours. Ederle was able to swim the English Channel in 14 hours. The second woman mentioned was Suzanne Lenglen. She was known for being elegant and graceful. Lenglen was a women’s sports superstar in tennis. She is said to have appeared as a ballerina on the court.

We also learned about John R. Tunis. He wrote an article about the first time women were allowed to run the 800M in the Olympic games. The women were worn out after the race and laid down on the ground one at a time. The damage from his article about the 800M women’s race kept women from running more than 100M for the next 32 years.

The last thing that was mentioned was the bicycle. It was believed that the way a bicycle seat was made was bad for a woman’s body in the area of reproduction.

I am interested in watching the rest of this film and learning more about women in sport.


Estarr10