Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics

The biggest story of the 1928 Olympic track & field was that women were allowed to compete for the first time. After they were denied the chance to compete in Olympic track & field, the Fédération Sportive Feminine International (FSFI) was formed in 1922 and sponsored women’s international athletics competitions in Paris in 1922 and in Göteborg in 1926. Spurred on by this competing organization, the IAAF relented and allowed women to compete in Amsterdam in five events – the 100 metres, 800 metres, 4x100 relay, high jump, and discus throw. In the 800 metres, the event was won by German Lina Radke, but several of the women in the event collapsed in exhaustion after the race, not unlike the men. But the IOC and IAAF considered this dangerous to women, and women would not run more than 200 metres at the Olympics again until 1960. No British women competed in 1928 as the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association elected to save themselves for the 1930 Women’s World Games in Praha, Czechoslovakia, where there were more events (11) for them to compete in, as opposed to only five in Amsterdam. Their raison d’etre being that the Praha meeting better answered the purpose for world’s championships.

In the sprints, Canada’s Percy Williams became the first non-American to win the 100/200 double. Finland continued to star in the distance races, winning all the events longer than 800 metres, with Paavo Nurmi back winning gold in the 10K and silver in the steeplechase.