Gli 800 metri: una gara atletica vietata alle donne

Abstract

The same physiological, moralist, and sexist deprivations that were exploited to stop the bike use by women, between 1800’s and 1900’s, were at the origin of the hesitations in the respects of the female distance races. These resistances were powerfully strengthened by an episode that marked for a lot of time the development of these athletic practices at feminine level. In particular we refer to the competition of the 800 meters race disputed within the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (1928). The Mile run, due to the fatigue denoted by some athletes at the final competition, induced the IAAF and the CIO to actually exclude it from the Olympic program to the 1960. This contribution will analyzethe history of female 800 meters race at international and national level, highlighting the figure of the first Italian athlete, the neapolitan Gilda Jannaccone who, in the ‘60s, upraised this discipline from the serious technical delay in which it was poured.