The 1934

Women's World Games The Women's World Games were the first international women's sports events in track and field. The games were held four times between 1922 and 1934. They were established by Alice Milliat and the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale ...

() were the fourth edition of the international games for women. The tournament was held between 9–11 August at the White City Stadium in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom.11 august 1934
Kalenderblatt, Retrieved 10 December 2013''Rétrospective de l'athlétisme féminin'', page 10
Sylvain Charlet, Amicale des Entraineurs d'Ile de France d'Athlétisme AEIFA, Retrieved 10 December 201311 august 1934
Deutsche Welle, Retrieved 10 December 2013
NordNet.fr, Retrieved 10 December 2013 These were the last athletic games exclusively for women, a planned fifth tournament for 1938 in Vienna was cancelled as women were allowed to compete in all regular athletics events at the Olympic Games and other international events. The first major tournament were the

1938 European Athletics Championships The 2nd European Athletics Championships was a continental athletics competition for European athletes which was held in two places in 1938. The men's event took place in Paris, France between 3–5 September while the women's events were in Vie ...

even though the tournament was split up into two separate events. The 3rd European Athletics Championships in 1946 were the first combined championships for both men and women.

Events

The games were organized by the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale under Alice Milliat as a response to the IOC decision to include only a few women's events (100 metres, 800 metres, 4 × 100 m relay, high jump and discus) in the 1928 Olympic Games. The games were attended by 200 participants from 19 nations (including now dissolved nations):''A Right Royal Feast'', John Lane, p 122
David & Charles 2011, , Retrieved 24 November 2016

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Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

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, and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. The athletes competed''1934 Women's World Games''
Intersportstats.com (accessdate 04 July 2021) in 12 events:
GBR Athletics, Retrieved 10 December 2013 running ( 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres, 800 metres, 4 x 100 metres relay and hurdling 80 metres),

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

and pentathlon (100 metres, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put). The tournament also held exhibition events in basketball, handball and football. The tournament was opened with an olympic style ceremony. The Canadian flag bearer was Lillian Palmer as captain of the Canadian team. The games attended an audience of 15,000 spectators and several world records were set. The games were the first to include a

women's pentathlon The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day (formerly two days). The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with t ...

. A special commemorative medal was issued for the participants and the games were closed with a formal banquet.

Medal summary

Another source names Jadwiga Wajs as J Wajsowna, and lists the High Jump winner as M Clark of South Africa. This source also gives the winning 800 metres time as 2:12.4; and the field event measurements in imperial measures (one of which gives rise to a discrepancy), respectively 5'1"; 19'0½", 44'2" (13.46m), 143'8¼", and 139'2¾". It further notes that: World records were set in the 800m, 80m hurdles, shot, discus, and pentathlon; British records in the 100m, 200m, and javelin; Krauß s 'Krauss'was 2nd (not 3rd) in the discus; that the pentathlon consisted of the 100m, high and long jumps, shot put and javelin; and the home competitors' comparatively poor performances were attributable to them all having competed in the Empire Games earlier that same week. Also from this same source, it was stated that the Women's World Games incorporated two further championship competitions: Hazena a fast-moving variant of handball, popular in central Europe, in which Yugoslavia beat Czecho-Slovakia (''sic'') by 6 goals to 4. (This would appear to be the second World Cup in this sport, in which only these two nations participated).

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

France v United States 34-23 points. The absence of the USA and Yugoslavia from the points table supports the assertion that these (and the untraced football competition) were demonstration events only.

Points table

No other competing nation scored any points.''Encyclopedia of Sports Games and Pastimes'', Fleetway Press, London, 1935, pages 735-736. Note that this source refers to the United Kingdom as "England", and the Netherlands as "Holland".

References

External links

Participation medal

Film (British Pathé) 1934 Women's World Games

Picture Grieme Selma at the high jump event

Menue from the closing banquet
{{Authority control Women's World Games International athletics competitions hosted by England Athletics in London

Multi-sport events in the United Kingdom International sports competitions in London

Women's sport in London