It’s not often that people win an Olympic medal. It’s even less often that women win an Olympic medal, especially when it’s 1932. But a woman winning 2 Olympic gold medals and 1 silver in one-go? That is practically unheard of! Sorry, was unheard of. Meet Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrikson.
At a time when women in sports was a phenomenon nobody believed was possible, Didrikson was a 1932 Olympic Games track & field star, hurdler, high jumper, swimmer, baseball pitcher, expert basketball player, golfer, javelin thrower, football halfback, billiards, tumbler, boxer, wrestler, fencer, weight lifter and adagio dancer. That’s if you don’t add cooking, sewing, and harmonica playing to the list. Was there something she could not do?
As a child, Didrikson was nicknamed ‘Babe’, because even then, the skill and prowess she managed to radiate matched that of Babe Ruth, a legendary baseball star. Since Mildred knew that women During the Olympics trials, she made the cut for 5 events. 5 different events. The only reason she couldn’t participate in each? Apparently, women were not ‘capable’ enough (What a terrible and obviously false lie! If they weren’t capable enough, how did she make the cut? ) and were thus, only allowed to participate in 3 events. Didrikson took part in all three and this is what she achieved.
In the javelin throw, she took away the gold medal while setting a new world record at 143 feet. The next day, in the 80-meter hurdle, she again took away the gold medal while setting a world record of 11.7 seconds (breaking her own previous record.) In the high jump, she took away the silver medal, after her technique was dismissed by the judges, even though there had been no such protests in the earlier rounds.
All of this was enough to bring attention to her, not all of which was positive. Many of the claims were actually pretty hurtful and pointed out the narrow-minded thinking of the society for the world to see. There were claims that Didrikson was actually a man since obviously, no woman could possibly be capable. One sportswriter noted, “It would be much better if she and her ilk stayed at home, got themselves prettied up, and waited for the phone to ring.”
That was all when she was 21. The next year, it was golf. Even after facing tremendous discrimination, what with slurs hurled at her for being a woman, Didrikson destroyed others at the game. In 1938, she became the first woman to compete in a men’s golf event, though not making the cut. Through her entire golf sporting career, Didrikson won a total number of 31 professional golf events.
But the story does not end here. Even after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953, Didkrikson won her third U.S open while wearing an entire colostomy bag. It is clear. The title, the greatest female athlete of the century, has never been given to a more deserving candidate than one who plays the U.S open wearing a colostomy bag and then, WIN IT!
All of her accomplishments empowered so many young women when they knew that sports were an industry that they not only could enter, but excel in. Her founding of the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association in 1950 broke the men-sized opening in the wall, allowing fleurs of women to come in what was traditionally supposed to be a male-dominated sport. But Mildred didn't just break the stereotypes of what women were allowed to do. She also rewrote the norms of how women were supposed to behave.
She pointed out the double standards existing in society about how traditionally men and women were supposed to behave. If a man was successful, him patting himself on the back was seen as deserved. A woman doing the same? No, no, no. Now, she was arrogant and egoistic. Didrikson did not embrace this ideology. She was good, and she knew it. “The Babe is here. Who’s coming in second?”
In the end, I have one piece of advice for all readers - play like a girl. You might just end up winning that Olympic medal someday too.
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