PIONEERS Nobody was going to catch Diane Leather The English runner started fast She stayed fast And with one final burst she crossed the finish line in 4 59 6 On May 29 1954 Leather became the first woman to run the mile in under five minutes Sixty-five years later Sifan Hassan lined up to run the same distance Just like Leather she reached the finish line faster than any woman in history But by July 2019 runners were much faster Sifan Hassan pushes herself to the finish line in record-breaking time 5 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 1
Hassan who is from the Netherlands covered the four laps in 4 12 33 Track and field is a simple sport People have taken part in running jumping or throwing contests for centuries Yet the sport is constantly changing Athletes keep running faster jumping higher and throwing farther Babe Didrikson was known for doing a little bit of everything Opportunities for women to play sports were often limited during her lifetime That never stopped the Texas native She starred in just about every sport imaginable But her three Olympic medals came in track and field In 1932 Didrikson won gold in the javelin throw and the 80-meter hurdles race She added a silver medal in high jump She broke world or Olympic records in all three events Didrikson might have won more medals 6
Babe Didrikson clears a hurdle at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles but women could only compete in three events at the time The first modern Olympics were held in 1896 Women were first allowed to compete in track and field in 1928 Still for years the 7
