How the race they said women couldn't run took centre stage

ByEmma Middleton

BBC Sport journalist

For 32 years, the women's 800m was absent from the Olympics, with its competitors deemed excessively frail. Now, it is 1 of the astir hotly-anticipated events connected the track.

This bonzer communicative starts astatine the 1928 Olympic Games, which represented a immense - if impermanent - measurement guardant for women's sports.

The Amsterdam Games were the archetypal to let women to vie successful way and tract events. Five women's events were added to the programme - the 100m, precocious jump, discus, 400m hurdles and, controversially astatine the time, 800m.

The progress, however, was temporary.

German jock Karoline Lina Radke, external became the archetypal pistillate to triumph Olympic golden successful the 800m - but she would besides beryllium the past for different 32 years.

The lawsuit was removed from the Games aft reports - aboriginal proven to beryllium mendacious - claimed competitors suffered utmost exhaustion aft the race, and the International Olympic Committee decided women were excessively frail to compete, external implicit the two-lap distance.

Fast guardant astir 100 years, the lawsuit present gets header presumption astatine large events.

In caller times, it's been the conflict betwixt Britain's Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson and the Swiss European champion Audrey Werro that has captivated fans.

So however did the 800m go the 'one to watch'? BBC Sport spoke to the women who helped signifier the contention to find out.

It was the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and Ann Brightwell (nee Packer) had conscionable crossed the decorativeness enactment of the women's 800m to instrumentality golden - and acceptable a caller satellite record.

In doing so, Brightwell became the archetypal British pistillate to triumph an Olympic golden connected the track, successful a clip of 2 minutes 01.1 seconds.

She told BBC Sport: "My husband, who was my fiance then, said to me, 'you don't realise what you've done'.

"I didn't springiness it a thought astatine the time… but present I realise I played a precise tiny portion successful women moving longer distances."

But the contention hadn't wholly gone away. Brightwell knew each astir the claims that had seen women incapable to vie for 32 years aft the 800m was removed from the Olympics.

Brightwell adds: "Men weren't blessed astir women competing successful these precise precocious illustration events…we were considered excessively frail and excessively delicate.

"And they took it upon themselves to marque it look truly bad. They were saying women were collapsing connected the mode round. But it was each a lie."

After 1928, women's middle-distance shrunk into the shadows for the adjacent fewer decades.

The 800m was yet reintroduced to the Olympic programme successful 1960 and, 4 years later, the then-22-year-old Brightwell went to her archetypal Olympics, fitting grooming astir her occupation arsenic a teacher.

"Many radical successful my epoch either had to instrumentality unpaid permission oregon resign, oregon they got sacked due to the fact that they were trying to juggle their sports with their career," she said.

"My schoolhouse was precise tolerant towards what I was doing, truthful I was fortunate."

Going retired for a tally astir the section streets oregon countryside - which seems truthful commonplace contiguous - was antithetic successful the epoch Brightwell was competing.

"If I conscionable felt similar an casual run, I would tally astir my village, astir the streets… radical commented connected it oregon tooted their horns. And it was comic looking back, but it ne'er troubled me," the present 84-year-old told BBC Sport.

Brightwell's 800m clip of 2:01.1 stood for astir 3 years, earlier Australian Judy Pollock broke that with a caller clip of 2:01 level successful 1967.

The adjacent people was to spell nether 2 minutes.

"Records are large and medals are the best, but erstwhile you interruption a obstruction it's a fantastic feeling," said Christina Boxer-Cahill (nee Boxer).

It was astatine the 1979 European Cup last successful Turin that Boxer-Cahill looked up astatine the timepiece and realised she'd gone nether 2 minutes.

She added: "I knew this would astir apt beryllium my past chance, due to the fact that determination were different girls successful Britain trying to bash it."

In 1971, Germany's Hildegard Falck, external had go the archetypal pistillate to interruption the two-minute barrier.

Eight years later, it was the 22-year-old Boxer-Cahill who became the archetypal British pistillate to bash so, successful a clip of 1 infinitesimal 59.05 seconds.

"It's a spot similar erstwhile Roger Bannister broke 4 minutes for the mile. Once he'd done it everybody did it due to the fact that you spot what's possible," Boxer-Cahill, who is present 69 years old, told BBC Sport.

"I conscionable deliberation I'm truthful fortunate that I was successful a athletics wherever everybody accepted that you person men and women's races successful the Olympics."

From 1971 to 1983, the women's 800m satellite grounds would beryllium breached six times.

But the 1983 grounds stands to this day.

It belongs to Czech jock Jarmila Kratochvilova, who ran a clip of 1 infinitesimal 53.28 seconds astatine a gathering successful Munich.

Kratochvilova's grounds has been questioned, with claims it was assisted by her country's doping authorities that existed astatine the time, thing she has strenuously denied.

In 2017, European Athletics proposed wiping retired records acceptable earlier 2005 - sending a beardown awesome that records acceptable earlier past were disputable.

Several Soviet outer states - including East Germany - are known to person been operating state-sponsored doping programmes passim the 1980s.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Boxer-Cahill finished 4th successful the 1500m, down a Russian jock who was aboriginal banned for doping.

Boxer-Cahill said: "I was moving during that Eastern Bloc epoch when, you know, they've looked backmost and immoderate of the performances, there's benignant of a unreality implicit it.

"I'd conscionable person loved to person been connected that rostrum. I privation the Eastern Bloc strategy hadn't been there, but that's what it was.

"Politics successful sport, erstwhile you're the performer, it frustrates you. But if you get excessively frustrated, each it's going to bash is upset your ain performance."

"We've got not conscionable 2 but respective girls who are moving nether 2 minutes each clip they crook out," Brightwell told BBC Sport.

"It's stronger than it's ever been."

Kratochvilova's 43-year-old grounds is looking progressively precarious.

The 800m European champion Werro has travel closest, moving a clip conscionable 0.42 seconds shy of the grounds astatine the Zurich Diamond League.

Keely Hodgkinson, the existent 800m indoor satellite grounds holder, told BBC Sport earlier this twelvemonth that she's ne'er felt person to breaking the outdoor record.

She said: "I truly bash judge we tin interruption it, but a batch of things person got to travel together."

Hodgkinson is 1 of six athletes competing successful the 800m astatine Athlos, the all-female athletics event taking spot successful London, connected Friday.

"I bash deliberation the [800m] satellite grounds volition spell successful the adjacent twelvemonth oregon two, and hopefully this season, due to the fact that we're connected a existent high, aren't we?" Boxer-Cahill told BBC Sport.

"If it happens towards the extremity of the season, 2026 [would be] the twelvemonth of women's 800m running."