The Brazilian women at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico

Abstract

By the twentieth century the Olympic scene was also composed by women. This possibility is due, in many cases, to the insistence of women who have challenged their physical limits and proved their ability to practice exhaustive sports, contrary to the medical point of view based on biological differences that determined the social role of women. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the gender intersections in the Brazilian Olympic women’s identity construction through their 'biographical narrative'. This methodology privileges orality and is based on personal memories and meaningful events in the subject’s life, who is the protagonist of the phenomenon. In order to collect the data, we conducted interviews with two female Olympic athletes from the 1960s: Aída dos Santos, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games at athletics; and Lúcia de Faria Alegria Simões, 1968 Olympic Games at equestrianism. The interpretation of the biographical narratives reveals attachment to the hegemonic model of femininity. On the other hand, it marks the beginning of a female pattern deconstruction process, as new adjectives are assigned to contemporary women.