ISBN10: 0295975547, ISBN13: 9780295975542, [publisher: University of Washington Press, Seattle] Softcover Paperback. The 1932 Olympic games took place in Los Angeles in the depths of the Great Depression; that they were held at all falls barely short of miraculous. The United States sent thirty-seven women to competeseventeen swimmers, seventeen track and field athletes, and three fencers. It was not easy, and far from acceptable, for a woman to be an athlete in 1932. As late as April 1931 the International Olympic Committee seriously considered eliminating womens events. The young Americans did their part to capture the imagination of spectators and reporters. Through the sports press they catapulted the Olympic Games and womens athletics into the nations consciousness as never before.Doris Pieroth creates vivid portraits of the women, including the great Babe Didrikson, the confident and outspoken track and field star; Tidye Pickett, one of only two African American women who represented the United States despite encountering racial discrimination; and Helene Madison, winner of three gold medals in swimming, who returned triumphantly to Seattles West Green Lake Beachas a hotdog vendor (park department rules barred women from teaching swimming).The team truly represented Americaa democratic cross-section from New York to California, Washington to Florida, Minnesota to Texas and points in between. Drawn from public pools, schools and playgrounds, municipal and ...
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