Underwood & Underwood Studio, Women's Olympic Games, Monte-carlo, 1923

Underwood & Underwood Studio
Women's Olympic Games, Monte-Carlo, 1923
4th edition of the Women's Olympic Games created in 1921, Monte-Carlo, April 1923, 65-meter hurdles event
On the right, Ivy Irene Lowman (United Kingdom), gold medal gold ; in the middle: Thérèse Brulé (France), bronze medal.
Silver print
Bears the “Underwood & Underwood” studio stamp on the back
22 x 17 cm

This photograph was taken in 1923 for the Underwood & Underwood studio during the 4th edition of the Women's Olympic Games held at the Moneghetti stadium in Monté -Carlo (Monaco). These, initially called “Women's Olympiads” then “Women's World Games”, were organized for the first time in 1921 on the initiative of Alice Milliat, founder of the French Women's Sports Federation (1917 ). In 1923, eight countries, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Monaco competed in multiple athletic disciplines. This instant captured by the photographer shows three athletes overcoming the obstacle at the same time and in the same position. This simultaneity in the intensity of the movement of the bodies contributes to the prodigious beauty of the image.

This is the 65 meter hurdles event and we were able to identify two of the three athletes present. On the right is the English Ivy Irene Lowman (1898-1991), gold medalist of the event and in the center is the French Thérèse Brulé (1897-1987), bronze medalist of the test.

Thérèse Brulé, a pioneer in women's sport, was one of the co-founders of Femina Sport, a sports club created in 1912 in Paris which, during the First World War, strove to bring gendered codes that confine them to rhythmic gymnastics so that they invest in athletic sports.